Something that Isn't
by Silverian Rose
Summary: Her heart was always right, wasn't it? She was sure it was nerves, but then, what if she knew she should just listen to her heart, after all she didn't want to make the same mistakes as her parents, and there was something nagging in the back of her mind.
1. A plane to catch

Hey everybody, so I thought I would try a Life with Derek story since I love it so much and have been inspired by some pretty good writers on here. They know who they are. Anyways, hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think, and yes, I own nothing but the idea that makes this story possible with everything that I borrowed from the creators of lwd.

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She stood outside her apartment, her bags were in the car, and her sister was waiting in the driver's seat. She had to force herself to breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. She continued the breaths but felt a sudden anxiety and almost let it take control. 

"Casey, what's wrong?" her sister asked from in the car.

Casey turned to look at Lizzie. "Nothing."

"Come on, we have to go, we have a plane to catch."

She somehow found the strength to listen to her sister and get into the cab but the entire ride to the airport, she felt anxious. They were flying back to Toronto from New York where Casey had been living the past couple years. She worked at her father's firm as a paralegal.

They arrived at the airport within half an hour and Casey couldn't help but stare at the building as though it were a death sentence.

Lizzie paid the driver as he helped unload the trunk. Casey sluggishly gathered her things.

She was getting married in two days. Tomorrow was the rehearsal and dinner. She forced herself to breath through the heart palpitations that started at the thought that her wedding was 48 hours of occurring.

After they were driven to the terminal, she felt ready to collapse. "Oh god, Lizzie, I don't feel well."

Lizzie frowned at her. "Come on Case, there's nothing to worry about, we're perfectly on time."

But Casey wasn't sure. She felt like something terrible was about to happen.

They got checked through and went through security without a problem and soon were waiting in the lounge for their plane.

While they were waiting, Casey tried to figure out what was wrong with her. Everything was going to plan. She was getting married in two days. After the wedding celebrations they would go to their new apartment for a quiet weekend away from everyone. They had decided to put off their honeymoon since he was swamped with work. Going in the winter would be better, anyway, she told herself, since they would be able to escape the doldrums of winter then.

But there was something not right. She could feel it. There was a nagging in the back of her mind that something was not right at all. She forced herself through the breathing exercises again.

Shortly they were on the plane and making their way across the country back home. Casey read through some of her reports for her boss while Lizzie read a magazine and listened to her Ipod.

She caught herself gazing off every so often. She found herself lost in her memories.

"_Surprise," a masculine voice said from behind her as he slipped his arms around her._

_She smiled as she leaned her head back to look at him._

"_Hey sexy," he said as he kissed her on the forehead._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Saying hi to you after a good morning of practice."_

"_Oh yeah," she said as she stood and engulfed him in a hug. "Did you get the chance to take out Sam and the guys and score all the goals?"_

_He rolled his eyes. "I am not a hockey hooligan and you know it."_

_She gave him her version of his smirk that she had somehow copied from him over the years of being together. "Sure babe."_

"_Coach told me that our next game is going to be the most scouted game of the season. I really need it if I am ever going to make it pro. There are a few schools that I would like to have gunning for me so I can have my dream."_

_Her smile faltered for a split-second. _

_He noticed. "Casey, what's wrong?"_

"_Nothing."_

"_Babe, you know you're part of my dream for the future. Even if we end up at different schools, we can still be together. I am going to go to school to play hockey and make it onto the triple a team and you will finish with your B.A. and become a paralegal. We'll live in some posh penthouse apartment until I go pro then we'll have a big house and lots of kids and…"_

_She laughed. "But what if you don't go pro?"_

_He shrugged, "then we'll live off your money while I lounge and dream the big dream."_

_She laughed. "Oh babe, what would I do without you?"_

"_Probably suffer a boring existence as grade-grubber or klutzilla."_

_She scowled at him and smacked him on the arm._

_He swept her off her feet and took her over to the couch, kissing her neck, while she squealed in laughter. _

"_Put me down," she shrieked._

_He laughed. "Alright, I'll drop you right here."_

"_Der-ek! Don't you dare!"_

_He laughed and then dropped her on the couch. He smirked before pouncing on her._

A stewardess came over and was offering an array of food to buy. She grabbed a sandwich and swept through one of the depositions before her.

"oh mom wanted us to stop by tonight to take some pressure off the visit from Aunt Fiona and Uncle Harry. Fiona has been really eager to help out around the house and Harry seems to want to take everyone hiking."

Casey laughed. "I can imagine George's reaction to that."

Lizzie smiled. "Yeah, and Vicki and her boyfriend have been staying in the house too and that is a drama within itself. Mom doesn't care if they share a room, since they are in the guest room – or your old room. But Aunt Fiona has been freaking out about it. It's silly really."

Casey shook her head.

"Dad said he was catching a flight in the late morning."

Casey nodded. She finished her sandwich and went back to her papers. She needed to ignore the feeling of anxiety that was building when the wedding was being mentioned.

She did find comfort in her memories. Torturous memories, but memories when she had the feeling that all was right with the world.

_She woke up that morning feeling a little tired. Perhaps she might admit to herself that she was brutally hung over. She had gone to a party last night with Derek and the guys celebrating his big scholarship acceptance to the University of Toronto. _

_After all the scouts had come out and thrown their offers, Derek chose to go with U of T since he could have the comforts of home not too far away. Plus he could enjoy the partying since graduating at 18 and the legal drinking age in Ontario was 19, there was no way that he would wait two more years to be legal to drink._

_There was a knock on her door. She groaned._

_Derek poked his head in. "Hey there sunshine."_

_She covered her eyes and groaned._

_He came and sat down on the bed. He rubbed her back and she moaned._

"_Oh that feels good."_

"_I think you will feel better after a shower and then we can go enjoy a nice quiet day outside."_

_She gave a small smile as she leaned over and kissed him. _

"_What would I do without you?"_

_He laughed. "Well, let's see if I wasn't around you might have tried to have sex with me in front of everyone."_

_She frowned. "I did not!"_

_He laughed. "Okay, maybe not in front of everyone. But you certainly enjoyed yourself last night."_

_She groaned as she rested her forehead against his arm._

"_Alright, so I drank too much, was practically all over you, and tried to… was it climb the trellis on the front porch?"_

_Derek laughed. "Yeah, babe, I got to see your hot little lacy thong and girl I have to say that ass of yours is fine."_

_She groaned again._

"_And you are certainly in the mood when you have a few drinks in your system."_

_She closed her eyes. "Alright, but should you really be complaining about that?"_

_He shook his head. "Oh you don't hear me complaining about it at all, I just found you entertaining."_

_She smacked him on the chest and then proceeded to drag him into the bathroom to share a shower. After which he took her out to the aquarium to see the new baby seal that had been born a few weeks before. After that Derek had taken her out to her favorite patio restaurant for dinner and they talked about their plans for the fall._

She heard the captain speaking about the current temperature of Toronto and the time.

She sighed as she put her papers back in the folder and got ready for the landing.

Lizzie was busy looking out the window, not really noticing that Casey had slipped off to her own world of lost memories.

The feeling of dread was knotting in her stomach again. Maybe she should go see a doctor, she thought. There was clearly something wrong with her.

Once they landed, Lizzie led Casey off the plane. They smiled and thanked the stewardesses and the captain and made their way to baggage claim. Once they had their bags on the cart they started out to the main entrance where they were supposed to be picked up.

"Casey!" someone called.

She forced her mouth into a bright smile and turned to look for her fiancé.

He swept her into a hug. "Oh I missed you," he said, putting an arm around her as he took the cart and started to push it.

She kept the bright smile. "Yeah, I missed you too Max."

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I know, I know, I was leading you on. Trust me, it's going to be great. Alright, so let me know what you think. This is my first lwd flick. But I needed to channel some of my emotions and this story is the result. Please review, I really want to make sure that this is ok, otherwise I will kybosh the whole thing. And yes to my other fans, I will finish the last of the other story, just working on the last details of the chapter. 


	2. Turning in for the night

Alright, so I know quite a few people read my story except not many people reviewed… which makes me so sad, so I guess I will have to go to my old rule and require 5 reviews before I post the next chapter. Hope you enjoy the chapter…

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"Oh my god Casey!" her mother exclaimed, throwing her arms around her. "Please save me from your aunt," she whispered in Casey's ear.

She squeezed her mother in return. "And how is Vicki?"

Nora faked a loud laugh. "They leave Monday morning, that is all I know," she whispered aside.

"Ah," Casey said. She then let go of her mother. "I've missed you all."

George hugged her next. "I'm glad that you're here. Getting excited about the wedding?"

She plastered on a smile. "Yeah, it's going to be fabulous."

"And there's my future son in law," Nora said, engulfing Max in a hug.

He smiled at her. "Yes, it's coming up fast."

He then turned to Casey. "I will let you visit with your family tonight. I will see you tomorrow."

She smiled. "Sounds good."

He kissed her on the cheek, said good-bye to everyone, and then left.

Casey let her mother drag her and Lizzie into the living room where they were bombarded on questions about their past week in New York together.

"Oh it was great, Casey and dad made sure that we checked out some of the real touristy things. You know, the statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, Ellis Island, Central Park—of course Casey took me to a few great restaurants and we went out to a couple great clubs."

Casey smiled. Lizzie had loved everything about New York. She of course didn't want to live there but she had loved everything about the whole visit.

"Dad took her to most of the touristy stuff while we did more of the shopping things."

"Of course it would have been nice to catch a game, the Leafs were playing," Lizzie grinned.

Casey felt a sudden pang. She remembered Lizzie's disappointment over not going to the Rangers game. Casey would have liked to have gone too despite the pain over seeing a certain star forward on the Leafs team. The game was sold out and despite the contacts that Casey and their father had, they were unable to get any tickets.

Marti came bounding into the living room. Her black and purple hair bouncing as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Marti was sixteen almost seventeen. She grew into quite the beauty, but liked the glam Goth and emo mix. She was very stylish and probably the most popular girl in school. She definitely took after Derek.

"Casey!" she said.

Casey stood and let the young girl hurl herself at Casey in a rib crushing hug.

Marti then started in on her ramblings about her life and her excitement for Casey. She was going to be one of her bridesmaids.

Finally George decided it was time for dinner. They battled over take out or going out. Finally Nora declared that since the next night was the rehearsal dinner and it was going to be a big shindig downtown, take out won.

Again, Casey felt the anxious feeling seep through her blood and knot in her gut. This was definitely not looking good. She decided it had to be cold feet. She loved Max, she did.

George took care of the ordering the Chinese food while Fiona and Harry shared about their last anniversary.

Soon they were all caught up, full, and Casey found herself a little tired.

Nora looked over at her daughters. Lizzie was chatting animatedly with Marti about something. Casey was looking pretty drained. She would need some rest for the next couple of days.

"Casey, sweetie why don't you go to sleep in your room," Nora said stroking her on the back of her head.

"I thought Vicki…"

"Vicki took Lizzie's room this morning. She figured that you would need your room for the wedding day, so it was just easier for her to switch over to Lizzie's room."

Lizzie lived in an apartment with her boyfriend Jamie about twenty minutes away from the house. Lizzie looked like she was ready to escape from the family and return to her own sweetie.

Casey gave a grateful smile as she said goodnight to everyone then made her way upstairs. She paused when she passed Derek's door. She ran her fingers over the pictures and the keep out sign. She laughed. It had never really worked on her. She had some fond memories in that room. She sighed as she placed her hand back at her side and continued on to her room.

She entered her room and was amazed at much it was the same. She flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She tried to figure out where her feelings and dread were coming from.

Max was a great guy. Sure he had some quirks, like he was too stubborn, and he could really become an ass when they got into an argument. But every couple had their problems. Nothing was perfect.

She turned onto her side and then noticed a picture. She smiled. It was a picture of her and Derek when they were 17. It was after his birthday when they managed to become pretty good friends.

"_Here Derek," Casey said, holding out the present she had gotten for Derek for his birthday._

_He looked at the present then at her, grinning. "It better not be a book."_

_She scowled at him then put on a small smile. "Just open it," she said, pushing it at him. She was practically out of the room at his door._

_He tore off the paper off the small box. It was a cd – the newest Jack White and the Raconteurs. He had been wanting this cd for a while and hadn't had the chance to get it._

"_Thanks Case."_

_She smiled. "Yeah, you're welcome."_

_She left him in his room and went back to her own. He could discover the real gift later when he would play it; hopefully he would play it that day or sometime during the week._

_Suddenly she heard a shout then a quick running then her door slammed open._

"_How did you get these tickets?" _

_She turned and smiled. "I'm sorry?"_

"_I asked you how you got these tickets."_

_She shrugged. "You know, I stole them."_

_He just stared at her. "Did you make a joke?"_

_She grinned. "I am not going to tell you how I got the tickets. They are my birthday gift to you."_

_He came over and hugged her tight. "Thank you so much."_

_She let him hug her. "Alright, so we have a family feel good moment going on. I never thought I would see the day."_

_He scowled at her. "This is not a family feel good moment, it's I can't believe you got me tickets to see Sydney Crosby. He's my idol. And I will get to see him play the Leafs. This is the best birthday present ever."_

"_Better than your car from George?"_

_He smirked. "Yeah, way better."_

_She shrugged again. "So who are you going to take to the game?"_

_He just stared at her. "Oh—I guess I…"_

_She shrugged. "You have the week to think about it."_

_He smirked at her again. "Alright, well I'm going to go listen to my new cd," he said as he rose from her bed. He leaned down and kissed her on the head. "Thanks a million Case."_

_She watched him leave her room. She stared after him. That was the sweetest he had ever been._

_Throughout the week a bond grew between the two of them. The fighting practically became non-existent and the house seemed to fall into a peace time. _

_Casey had assumed that Derek would have taken Sam to the game but he surprised her by choosing her. It was Saturday afternoon and Casey had just gotten off the phone with Emily when Derek burst into her room._

"_Hey, knocking is always nice," she said._

_He smirked. "I guess but well, I had some good news. Make sure you're ready for the game, we need to leave at five thirty."_

_She frowned. "What?"_

_He arched a brow. "It will be an experience, trust me. Going to a live game is almost better than coming to one of my games."_

_She rolled her eyes._

"_Sydney Crosby, come on, you know you want to go."_

_He left her to get ready. She made sure she was ready to go and let Derek lead her out of the house. _

_The game was great and Casey really had a great time. Derek got himself a jersey and Casey bought a hat._

_It was after the game that Casey would remember the most. They went to Smelly Nelly's for a bite to eat. They shared a bunch of appetizers then drove back to the house. They went in quietly since everyone else was asleep._

_Derek's hand went to the small of her back as he followed her up the stairs._

_They stopped outside her bedroom door._

"_I had a blast, thanks for taking me Derek," she smiled at him._

_He gave a cross between his smirk and a genuinely sweet smile. "Well, I figured it was only fair since you were the one that went through all the trouble of getting me the tickets. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have had the chance to meet him."_

_She smiled. "It was still very sweet."_

_He handed her a bag that held her hat. _

_She turned and went into her room. "Goodnight Derek."_

"_Goodnight."_

_She entered her room and got ready for bed. She opened the bag to take out her hat when she realized that it held Derek's jersey. She smiled. She would have to give it back to him the next day but in the meantime what was the harm in her wearing it to bed. _

_She was lying on her stomach on her bed with her feet bouncing on her pillow as she listened to her Ipod and went through the pictures of her and Derek at the game. She was so absorbed in the song that she didn't hear Derek come into her room._

_Derek froze at the sight of her on her bed. She looked hot and he had never felt so conflicted in his life. She was in his new jersey signed by the great one and normally he would have been pissed but damn, he wanted her so badly._

_She felt his presence in her room; she turned to look at him. Then she saw it. The look of desire, lust, friendship, like—love. She just stared at him._

_Then before she knew it Derek was beside her on the bed and they were kissing. She felt herself falling deeply into the kiss and just felt that it was the most right moment of her life._

Casey sighed as she picked up the photo of her and Derek at the game. That was the start of their relationship. The years that she went out with Derek were some of the fondest memories of her life.

She sighed again as she closed her eyes.

Alright she was beginning to have doubts about the wedding. But it was just cold feet, wasn't it?

She looked at the picture of her and Derek. "Oh boy," she muttered to herself. "I'm still in love with you," she whispered to the picture.

* * *

Alright, so I just keep leading you on, showing you all these great memories with her and Derek. You'll just have to review to find out what will happen next. I mean what will Derek do when he shows up at home again? Will she go through with the wedding? Review and let me know what you thought and what you think will happen. Laterz :P 


	3. Caught up in dreams

I'm so glad that people are so involved in this story. This is the result of my channeled emotions and I am glad that I have the chance to share my baby with everyone out there. Please review after and let me know what you think…

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The Venturi-Macdonald house was quiet that night. Except in Casey's room where she was caught in the throes of her mixed and tormented thoughts. She was dreaming, that was to be sure. But she was also very caught up in memories, where it seemed like reality and fantasy were all tied together because her fantasies had always included what she had had with Derek.

_She awoke to a rose resting on her pillow just in front of her face._

_She smiled as she picked up the rose. It was her favorite kind, Black Beauty. It was the richest red, almost black in some light. To her red roses always symbolized great love and passion._

_She sat up then noticed a vase full of the Black Beauties. She smiled. He had remembered after all. Today was their one year anniversary. They were in their senior year and Casey was very very hopeful for the future. _

_She got up and decided she needed to look her best. She grabbed a shower and got herself all primped up._

_Derek had stared at her everytime he had spotted her when she was at school. She of course had chosen to wear his favorite mini skirt with her boots and one of the tops he had said look hotter than babe raider. _

_She went with Emily to the mall after school for that perfect outfit for their anniversary date._

_Derek knocked on her bedroom door in the midst of flurry of activity. Emily had been trying to do her hair and make-up while Lizzie was drilling Casey on where she was going and what she had gotten Derek. _

"_I'm not ready yet," she called out._

"_Reservations are at 6," he stated._

_She rolled her eyes. When had she ever let them be late for reservations? She almost laughed out loud. "Yes dear."_

_Emily laughed. "Alright Casey, blot your lips."_

_At twenty to six Casey descended the stairs to an awestruck Derek. She was wearing one of the new baby doll style dresses that ended mid thigh. It was black with a pink bow at the waist. Her hair was pulled back at the side of her neck in long curls. _

"_Casey, you look amazing," he said as he grabbed her jacket and took her out to his car._

_He took her to the restaurant they had their first official date to. It was great. She was caught up in everything that she almost forgot to give him his gift at dinner._

_She handed him a card._

_He opened it and dropped his mouth open._

_She had one of her friends from her old school who was a fantastic photographer take some seductive pictures. _

"_Casey Macdonald, I never knew you had it in you."_

_She smirked. "Well, you know, I guess you're rubbing off on me."_

_He stroked her arm. "You make it difficult for me to not just take you right here on this table. That's how bad I want you," he said in a low voice._

_She leaned over and kissed him, nipping his lips with her teeth. "you will just have to wait."_

_He groaned. "You're killing me here."_

_She smiled._

_He chewed on his lip then stood. "I can't give you your gift here," he said. She looked at him curiously then followed him out after Derek dropped some bills into the folder with the receipt._

_They went to their park and he sat with her on bench overlooking the city. He had put his jacket around her shoulders and was rubbing her arms._

_He leaned over to kiss her passionately. They sat there kissing, the glow of city below their only light with some street lamps back behind them. _

"_Casey," he whispered as he started kissing down her face to her neck. _

"_Mmm," she moaned._

"_I want to give you something now."_

_She turned and looked at him with bright eyes._

"_So this past year has been interesting," he started._

_She laughed. "I'll say."_

"_I'm just glad that we have managed to survive through some of the hardships that were bound to come our way."_

_She nodded. "That's because we were there to brave it together."_

"_Yes, I do remember the battle we had with our parents."_

_She blushed._

_Casey and Derek had been caught coming in from a date holding hands. They told their parents that they were dating. Of course they blew up because they know had their hormonal teens dating each other under their roof. Casey had declared that since Derek was improving in school and that she was sincerely happy for the first time in years, even more happy than starting dance again after moving in with the Venturis that the parents should just be happy for them._

_Casey fought long and hard for them alongside Derek, following their rules—mostly. If they had an empty house then they took advantage of it._

_Finally Nora seeing them as young and romantic convinced George that the kids were grown up and they would just have to accept them._

"_You are a vixen—my vixen," he smiled as he reached into one of his pockets to pull out a small box. _

_She stared at it. _

"_Alright, to find out what is in this box, you're going to have to take s guess."_

_She arched a brow. "I'm supposed to guess what my present it?"_

_He laughed. "Alright, you don't have to guess what it is—I want you to guess what it means."_

_A frown etched her face. "What?"_

_He smirked before taking her chin and kissed her. _

"_I wanted to get you a gift to prove that yes, Derek Venturi is capable of buying a gift for a girl and not going to fight and break up with you and get back together with you to avoid it."_

_She laughed as she remembered the Valentine's day she had wanted Max and he wanted Kendra but hated buying gifts. _

"_So I looked everywhere for not just a gift but a promise to you that I mean everything I say and do for you."_

_She gave him an appreciative smile while she tried to hold back the tears of joy she felt._

_He then opened the small box to reveal a purply green heart ring._

"_This is a promise ring to you that I want us to celebrate many years together. I want to take this journey as far as it will take us."_

_She gushed as she grabbed him and kissed him. _

"_It's beautiful."_

_He slid it on her fourth finger on her right hand. "It's a mystic topaz. A new stone, unique and beautiful."_

_She held her hand up and gazed at it. She then turned to him again. "I love it—I love you!"_

_He grinned as he pulled her in for a passionate kiss. "Forever and a day Case, forever."_

She bolted up. "Oh my god," she muttered putting her head in her hands. "Oh my god, what am I doing?"

She took a deep breath as she let her eyes settle in the darkness of her bedroom. She looked down at the engagement ring Max had given to her.

He had proposed to her the previous year when she had been cranky and scouring his apartment for some Advil to give some ease to her migraine. They had been laying on the bed and he said he had something for her. He opened a box to reveal this square diamond. He had gone on and on about it being a ring from his great uncle and it having never been worn and if she didn't like she could pick out something different. She finally calmed herself to ask him to ask her.

It wasn't a particularly romantic moment but she tried to glamorize it the best she could and was excited about being engaged.

Without thinking her hand shot to the chain around her neck. She had worn the chain practically forever. Absentmindedly she started playing with the ring that hung on the chain.

The action calmed her as she tried to shake the dream of her and Derek's first anniversary out of her head.

What was wrong with her, here she was in her old room at home because she was about to get married to Max, someone she had been with for two and a half years, and she was torturing herself with memories of Derek and her. She was grasping her promise ring that she had never been able to part with like it was some kind of life line.

Now she had to ask herself something. If she was supposedly happy in her new life with Max, then what was she doing holding the past so tightly in her hands?

Maybe that was it, maybe she had been lying to herself about her happiness. Her happiness was an illusion and so deep a lie that she convinced herself and everyone else that it was true.

She lay back down, still holding onto the chain and the promise ring. "I thought you had promised me forever and a day Derek," she whispered into the darkness. "Why am I marrying someone else?"

* * *

I might have to duck from all the flying objects that are bound to be thrown virtually at me since I keep leading you all on with these great memories with Derek and her tormented thoughts of Casey as she realizes that she really is about to get married to Max. so hold on for the ride, it might be a little bumpy, but its always worth it. Please review!! Let me know what you think, love it, hate it, or want to tell me I'm driving you mad with the wait? Post it! Laterz :P 


	4. Sidestepped with some wisdom

So I got going and I decided I should be a little nicer here since I am being cruel and keep leading everyone on. So read it and let me know what you think.

* * *

The sun broke through her curtains and shone on her face. She grumbled as she sat up even though she couldn't have asked for a better day really. There was some movement out in the hallway.

She stretched as she rose and went out to see what was going on.

Vicki was trying to get into the bathroom to have a shower while her boyfriend kept asking her for things then finally scooped her up to kiss her.

"_Casey, it's fine, we've survived the battle."_

_She grinned as she leapt at him and started kissing him. "Does this mean we can survive anything?"_

_He smirked, "well I hope so."_

"_We're going to try at least."_

"_Since we've managed to win the fight against the parents and all around our life is going well."_

_Casey looked at him with admiration. "Yes, we won. We have managed to show that we are not just the typical fling. We're serious."_

"_I'm serious about you."_

_He grabbed her and pulled her into the washroom._

"_Time for a shower," he smirked seductively._

_She brightened. "Well, since no one is home…"_

She smiled. She liked Glen. He managed to bring Vicki down to a somewhat manageable level. Together they disappeared into the bathroom. Casey smiled and started to make her way down the stairs.

Her mother and her aunt were sitting amicably in the living room, sipping their coffee.

Casey made her way to the kitchen, letting the two women chat.

"Are you excited for her?" Fiona asked Nora.

Nora smiled. "I will be happy for her no matter what she does. She has grown up to be quite a lady. She has gone through so much and she just kept strong through it all."

"Well Max is a good guy," Fiona said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he is, I just wonder if Casey will be treated the way she should. She always was a romantic and I would hate for her to not have it or forget what its like."

Casey frowned as she listened to them.

"I just hope that their fighting has stopped. It could have been nerves I suppose."

Fiona laughed. "Sure, I guess."

"It just was a little strange for me to look at them and see them forever when they came to tell us about being engaged. The body language didn't quite indicate that they were the lovie dovie couple they should have been."

"Weren't you telling me that they were always fighting? I was assuming it was not the kind of Casey and Derek constantly fighting but the fighting with screaming and shouting and tears."

Casey sighed as she sat down. Her mother had a point. These were the things that she was noticing now that made her feel certain that she had a right to her feelings of doubt about the wedding. For her, with her parents having been divorced, she wanted to make sure she didn't end up like her parents.

She ran through her thoughts trying to figure out when she began to feel the dread about getting married. She then noticed that there were so many signs that maybe she could have walked away sooner or maybe she and Max could have gone through them together. She just wanted to feel like all her inner turmoil made sense.

She sighed again, sipping her tea. Maybe she would be able to have her feelings all sorted out before the next day when she would actually be able to just go through with all that was planned.

Her mom came into the kitchen to probably get more coffee.

"Hey Casey," she said as she kissed her on top of her head.

"Hey Mom," she said, smiling at her.

Her mom cocked her head at her. "Are things okay Case?"

Casey put on a brighter smile. "Of course they are," she said.

Her mom rubbed her arm. "Are you sure, because I get the feeling that there's something bothering you."

Casey shook her head. "It's nothing."

Nora gave her a motherly smile. "Alright, but you want to talk about anything, you know you can come to me."

Casey leaned into her mom.

"When you were getting to married to dad, what were you thinking?"

Nora laughed. "Well, I was young and in love and for the time my idealism was enough to buy me many years with your father. I did love your father but then we wanted different things and we sort of just grew apart."

Casey took in the information.

"Why do you ask?" Nora asked her.

Casey shrugged. "Well you know, you just get all curious around this time and you wonder about the sanctity of other marriages."

Nora looked at her carefully. "Casey, finding out why others got married wont help you if you are wondering why you are getting married. If you are having doubts, it is completely natural. Every woman goes through them."

Casey leaned her head on her mom's shoulders. "I figured that was what it was."

But inside Casey knew it was a lie. She was in love with Derek and she was going to marry Max. She was in a complete mess.

Nora hugged her again. "Don't worry Case, whatever happens, we'll be there."

Casey gave a genuine smile, knowing that her mom seemed to know that there was some doubt in her mind about marrying Max.

In the next moment the doorbell was ringing then Emily was in the kitchen engulfing Casey in a tight hug. Lizzie was with her.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Lizzie grinned. "Well, its time for the girls to hang out. You need time to just relax now. We're going for lunch, some spa time, and then we will take you to the rehearsal."

Casey smiled. She had to love these girls. It was exactly what she needed. Some time to relax before she was taken over by the stress of the event. Everyone kept telling her that this was supposed to be her day, well; she would let her friends and family take over so she could try and enjoy it.

Vicki came down and joined them.

Nora tempted them with some breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. There was a lot of laughter as they joked about the days when Nora surprised them all with the big breakfasts when she cut down her hours to become a full time mom only to go back to work but kept the hours down.

Lizzie made her go and get ready. She changed into a black skirt with golden flowers along the hem and a white tank top with a half sweater, the one that hugged her chest and ended just below the chest.

She was grabbing her purse when she felt her chain fall from her neck.

She gasped as she went to grab the ring. She frantically looked around her room for a chain but couldn't find one. She sat on the bed and looked at the ring.

She sucked in a deep breath.

_Casey was busy reading her book and taking notes for the paper that she was working on for the end of the term. _

_Suddenly she heard a knock at her door. She was about to get up when she heard the door open. She smiled knowing that it was Derek. She knew it was him before the door opened._

_She turned and smiled._

_He came over to her and started kissing her neck._

_She dropped her book._

"_My my, someone is in the mood."_

_He smirked at her. "Well I was busy with practice all week and I've missed you."_

_She smiled into the kiss. "I missed you too."_

"_Let's watch a movie, share some popcorn, make out, and just spend some quality time with each other."_

_She smiled as she let him drag her downstairs. She went through the movie selection while Derek made the popcorn._

_She held up the movie she picked. He rolled his eyes. "A chick flick?"_

"_Does it really matter?" _

_He shrugged as he sat down on the couch and put the bowl of the popcorn on the table. She popped the movie in and joined him on the couch. They were content to enjoy the quiet night together._

_They lay on the couch together, Derek stroking her hair, holding her close. For her, that was the safest place in the world for her. She wouldn't trade it for anything._

Casey sat on the edge of her bed. The ring was in between her fingers. She rolled it, staring at it. So many memories brought up. She placed a hand on her chest.

She slipped the ring on her right hand. She would have to buy a new chain for the ring, hopefully she would have some time to do it that day or maybe she could just wait till she was back home and she could take one from her jewelry box.

She stood, took a deep breath and went back downstairs where the girls were eager to go.

"Alright, let's go ladies," Vicki said as she grabbed her purse.

Casey smiled as she linked arms with her sister to get dragged out of the house. They were almost at the door, just past the stairs and Lizzie was slipping on her shoes when the front door opened.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Lizzie said, standing tall.

Vicki laughed. "Good, spa here we come."

Emily went out the door and as Casey was about to pass through she felt the old familiar presence she did when.

"Hey ladies," he smirked.

His smile froze on his face when she passed him.

"Derek," she said. Everything melted, everything felt like there was a fleeting chance of becoming right. She didn't have doubts about anything because there was only him. Just Derek. Her Derek.

No more words were said. The girls dragged her down the front steps and she was forced away from Derek. His ring on her finger, back on again, like the old days.

_Derek_, she called out mentally. _Come back! Save me!_

* * *

Alright, now I have to really start ducking. I did bring Derek the real person into the story… trust me, there will be more… there is so much to b worked out… so, let me know what you think, please, I'm dying here… From the few people who have reviewed I know that they're hooked, but really people, I don't know if all this is working, so give a holler, love it, hate it, anything! 


	5. offcentered for the day

Thanks everyone for the reviews!! I loved the overwhelming response!! It was great. Hopefully you like chapter.

* * *

After they left the house, Casey felt bereft. Derek was within reach and she been dragged out the door by the girls.

Their first stop was the dress shop to get the dress. She had lost a few pounds since ordering the dress and they were going to finish the alterations.

She could remember falling in love with the dress when she saw it. It was a beautiful ivory lace dress and did suit her beautifully.

She slid on the dress in the change room and stepped out.

The girls gasped.

"Oh Casey," Lizzie gushed. "It's so beautiful."

Casey turned to look at herself. The dress was beautiful but what she noticed was the sudden pallor she had.

She took a deep breath and smiled. The lady went about trying to finish the last of the alterations on the waist.

"Are you getting excited?" Vicki asked her.

Casey gave a shrug. "It's really close now and I can finally see the end of the tunnel. It would be nice to enjoy the event I've been planning for."

There was some truth to her words. She had been getting sick of planning for the wedding and up until recently she had sort of been looking forward to the wedding despite her doubts.

"Well if things go well then next year or so we'll be doing all this for me," Emily grinned.

Casey looked at her. "Really?"

Emily practically beamed. "Sheldon has been acting strange, you know, nervous if I look around his place too much… he's showing all the classic signs that he's getting ready to propose."

Casey smiled. She had to love Emily and her ways of systematically breaking down everything to know the behavioral patterns of people. It was probably why Emily chose to become a counselor. She knew how to read people and was good at helping to break down their problems and really look at them.

Emily had been one of the helpful and supportive ones of Derek and her when they were going out. It was Emily that made her look at her perspective and made her admit that she did in fact love Derek.

"That will be awesome," Casey smiled. "I'm really excited for you."

Emily smiled. "Unfortunate about the name, Emily Schlepper, but hey, he is genuinely and truly in love with me. That's all that matters in the end."

They all smiled.

"Yes, that is what's important," Lizzie smiled.

"Alright my dear, we're finished with your dress," the seamstress smiled as she dropped the side of her dress.

Casey gave her a warm smile. "Thanks Maria, it's great."

She then went to take off the dress. After she was changed, the girls then dragged her out of the store to head out to the spa. They went to get pedicures and manicures.

They were sitting in massage chairs, getting pedicures, and munching on pizza that Emily had ordered for them.

Marti joined up with them, now free from her writer's club. She was part of a club taught by a professional writer. He had told both George and Nora that Marti had a lot of potential. So she never missed a meeting.

"Jamie is going to be an Econ major," Lizzie stated as she tried to pick a shade of blue that she wanted for her toes.

Marti laughed. "Lizzie, I never figured you would end up with someone doing anything so—boring."

Lizzie laughed. "There's nothing wrong with having someone different than me. It makes it interesting."

Casey laughed. Marti was always one to stir the pot. Of course it was only in jest.

Lizzie grinned. "When I finish school I plan on going into education. I plan on coaching while I teach. It's a way to give back and to prevent coaches from trying to seduce the soccer sisters or mothers."

Casey frowned but then burst out laughing.

Derek had stepped in to save Casey from Scott, Lizzie's soccer coach that was a serial dater. It was then that she really noticed that Derek seemed to always interfere with the guys she dated.

"_It was nothing Derek," she protested._

_He stared at her. "How can you say that it was nothing?"_

"_Derek, he was my study partner! I have to make sure that I make it through this course for my program."_

_He grabbed her arms and pulled her close. "Damn it Casey, I can't help I go to pieces when there are other guys trying to get close to you."_

"_We have been together long enough that you should just trust me…_

"_I do trust you, I don't trust them."_

_She exhaled as she frowned. "Derek, I can't believe you are putting this strain in our relationship over something that is not there. I need you to be able to trust me. We go to school far apart from each other. You live on campus at U of T and I have to trust that with all the partying that goes on that you are true to me. I trust you."_

"_Casey McGill is too far away from me. Why can't you come to Toronto?"_

"_This is part of my dream for the future. Once I am done here we'll be able to go and live together wherever we need to be."_

_Derek looked at her._

_She felt so frustrated. He had always interfered in her life. Before it had been because he had been her annoying step brother but she couldn't figure out where this jealousy was coming from now._

_They were together—the we're dating and I hear music when we kiss and feel safe with him together. _

_She sighed._

"_Look Derek, you need to just trust me—otherwise we're not going to work."_

_The fury raged in his eyes. "So you think we're not going to work?"_

"_I didn't say that! I said that if you can't trust me and believe in my love for you then it probably won't work for us. I don't want that. I love you with all of my being but I won't have you not trusting me."_

_He took in her words but he was just not himself and needing to cool himself off he needed to leave._

_He stormed out of her dorm room and was gone._

_She stared after him. He left and there she was sitting, stunned into silence. She thought perhaps she should run after him but thought it was probably best to let him cool off._

_Helen, her neighbour, came over and they worked on some of the homework they had together. In the end though, Helen noticed that Casey was distracted and asked her what was wrong. Afterwards she told Casey that she needed to go to Derek and just tell him that she loved him and they would just have to prove it by believing in the other._

_Casey reluctantly agreed. Helen took Casey's cell phone and dialed for her._

"_Hello?" a voice said._

"_Hello?" Casey said frowning._

"_Who is this?"_

_Casey was beginning to get pissed off at this girl who had answered Derek's cell phone._

"_This is Casey, who is this?"_

"_Melinda… uh, Derek cant answer the phone right now… Derek!"_

_The phone went dead._

_Casey just stared at it. Helen decided the best thing to do would be to share some of the Malibu rum she had stashed from the last party. They had a few Malibu and pineapples and Casey got more emotional. _

_It was four in the morning when her cell phone rang._

"_Hello?" she asked._

"_Casey," he said._

_She frowned. Despite being drunk, she still felt tingly at the sound of his voice. But she had to remember that she was mad at him._

"_Who the hell was that girl who answered your phone earlier?"_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I called and some chick answered the phone."_

_Silence on the other end._

"_Well Derek, I'm waiting."_

"_Nothing happened."_

_She went numb. "what?"_

"_Casey, nothing happened. She borrowed my phone to make a call."_

"_What the hell…"_

"_Look, I'm sorry that I stormed out like such an I diot…"_

"_Why didn't she have her own phone? Why did she answer yours?"_

"_She tried to kiss me—I think, and I was falling off the stool and…"_

"_WHAT?"_

"_Case, it was nothing."_

_She stared at the phone then brought it up to her ear. "Derek, I know you don't seem to want to trust me and apparently I can't trust you. We're through."_

_Casey hung up the phone then proceeded to cry her eyes out._

_The situation didn't get better. They both were so stubborn and emotional that week that no matter what they did, they just couldn't reconcile their differences._

_It was the worst week of her life, she felt like her heart had shattered into a million pieces and like she had lost something very valuable._

Casey frowned at the memory. While she had hated and loved Derek's protective nature, they let it break them apart during the time that was their most fragile. She knew now of course that she should have not let her inebriated self try to deal with a situation like that one. She should have known that it was two people letting something small and stupid tear them apart.

Lizzie waved a hand in front of Casey's face.

"Are you okay? You look like you're in another world."

Casey gave a smile. "I'm fine."

Lizzie gave her a bright smile. "Alright."

"Where's the dinner going to be?" Vicki asked as she looked at her nails carefully.

"At Casa Bella," Casey answered.

Max had really wanted Italian and since the place was big enough for both their families. Casey had agreed not really caring about the choice of restaurant because it was just food.

Everyone in the family was going to be there at the rehearsal dinner, or at least all of her immediate family. Then it suddenly dawned on her. Among her family, Derek would be there. The question now was, would it be a good or bad thing to come face to face with the guy she never stopped loving and knew it now.

* * *

I'm not sure I liked this chapter as much as my others, but I think it will work. Let me know what you think. Please review. 


	6. others on the offence side

I'm back. Well I hope you like it. I really had a lot of my own emotions to go on and really just let her rip in this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

They were at the church now. Casey stared at the offensive building. It was the damn church where she would have to marry a man that she did not love—at least not as much as she loved Derek. She froze mid step. She wasn't sure that she couldn't make up the stairs into the church.

"Come on Casey," Emily said, taking her by the arm. "I don't think you have to worry. I'm pretty sure that Max is in there."

Casey gave a forced laugh. "Oh of course he is."

They entered the church. Casey felt tight in her chest. She rubbed her arm. It really couldn't be good if she thought she might be having a heart attack. Perhaps it was a panic attack. Whatever it was, she knew it was a sign that her equilibrium was off. It was all wrong.

But despite the screaming inside her head, she walked with her head tall and into the church.

Everyone was there. Her father kissed her on the forehead.

"The minister is all ready to go," he said.

She nodded. "Then let's do it."

The minister came over to them then and explained all that they would have to do the next day.

"Alright Casey, so this day is not about you," he said.

She frowned.

He laughed. "I'm just kidding."

He then positioned them in the right order and repeated the steps again.

Finally he declared that they were ready to run it through.

Her father laughed. "God, this guy is crazier than the guy who married your mother and me."

Casey frowned. She wasn't sure if she should keep counting the signs that were weighing against her.

She sighed as she took her father's arm. The door opened and she waited as the girls took their turns walking up the aisle. Finally it was her turn. She laughed as her father hummed "here comes the bride" as they walked to be followed by "Going to the Chapel".

She noticed all the family was there. Her mother was smiling at her. She then finally looked at the man she was supposed to be marrying the next day.

She walked down the aisle, the direction supposedly strongly marching toward. She looked up and saw Max.

Max stood there with a smile. He seemed so happy. She felt a twinge of wretchedness for all her feelings of doubt, but they still didn't leave her.

"It will all go just as smoothly as this tomorrow," the minister smiled when they were done.

They all chuckled.

Max turned to look at them. "So I guess I will see you at dinner," he said. He kissed Casey on her cheek.

Her mom and dad were talking to Lizzie while George fussed over Marti and Vicki, teasing them about something.

"Casey," the minister said.

She turned. "Yes Alan?"

"Would I be able to talk to you for a minute?"

She nodded.

They stepped aside.

"Is everything okay, Casey?" he asked her.

She frowned. "Of course."

He looked at her carefully. "Casey, I have married many couples. I can sense that there is something off. Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

She took a deep breath. "I think I'm just feeling a little nervous."

He looked at her, giving her a scrutinizing stare. "Alright, but you have the sudden urge to run, I think you better have someone with you to talk to and keep you afloat."

She frowned.

He gave her a smile. "Like I've said, I have married many couples. I'm seeing some signs of one very jittery bride."

"Casey, what name is the reservation under?" Vicki asked.

"Macdonald and Carter wedding party," she said.

Minister Alan patted her on the arm. "Do what feels right," he said quietly.

She nodded then let Lizzie come and drag her to the car.

"Oh my god, I am so hungry," Lizzie complained.

Casey laughed. "I'm hungry too except I can still taste the pizza."

Emily groaned. "Oh bloody hell; I'm just looking forward to that margarita with my name on it."

Her mom came over to them where they stood, waiting around the car.

Nora put a motherly and comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Sweetie, why don't you humor your mother and ride along with her," she said to Casey.

She nodded. "Sure mom."

She went and got into the car with her mom.

"So Casey, what's bothering you?"

Casey turned to look at her mom. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I saw the way you were really nervous as you were making the way down the aisle."

Casey sighed. "Mom, I'm scared. I'm really worried I've talked myself into something that is not necessarily the right thing to do."

"Oh Casey," her mom said.

Casey gave a nervous chuckle. "Don't worry this isn't like the time I cried break-up when I was with Sam."

Her mom shook her head. "Oh god no, Casey, I never thought that. There's a big difference between not being able to communicate with a teenage boy and being on and off again. This is the rest of your life."

She looked at her mother with relief.

"Casey, you're my daughter. I will love you forever. If you get married and these thoughts are nothing but cold feet or if you decide that you shouldn't get married and leave, I will love you either way."

Casey smiled at her mom. She would have hugged her if she were not driving. "Thanks," she said quietly.

Once they arrived and parked, Casey hugged her mom once she was out of the car.

"Thanks mom," she whispered.

Her mom gave her a tight hug. "No worries sweetie. I know you will make the right decision for you."

Casey gave a weak smile. "I know in the end I will just have to follow my heart. I just don't know what my heart truly wants me to do."

"You have to have some kind of idea."

Casey gave a shrug. "I think that my doubts are saying something but I think there is more to it than I am giving credit to it."

Nora hugged her again. "Oh sweetheart, I know this is not easy and not the best time to be suddenly having doubts about this next step of your life."

Everyone else arrived at the restaurant to have everyone greet each other excitedly. Almost everyone was there. Casey found herself seated next to Max. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

She gave him a smile but she felt like she was throwing herself through a storm of inner turmoil. She suddenly felt like she knew she was so caught up in a lie that she didn't know how to get herself out.

She had gotten together with Max after she bumped into him coming out of a class when she was attending a seminar at NYU. He was there on an athletic scholarship for football. They decided to go for coffee to catch up and the next thing she knew they were going out.

They were decent friends but somehow she always felt like there was something missing. That missing something was becoming pretty vital right now. She was recognizing that now and was terrified about this acceptance.

Casey fiddled with her engagement ring. She took a deep breath and felt her hand switch over to her comfort zone. She was twirling Derek's ring around her finger.

_They were driving back from a movie date._

_He was holding her hand and driving. _

_She was fiddling with the promise ring he had given her._

"_Hey there sexy, what are you thinking about?"_

_She looked over at him. "Not much. I was just thinking about what it will be like in a few years when we're going home to our own house."_

_He grinned. "That's not a bad dream—so who's this guy you're sharing it with?"_

_She laughed. "Oh you know, this guy who is trying to become a pro hockey player. He shows me all the consideration in the world. He lets me be me and knows how to endure all the days with me that might be overwhelming to some."_

_He laughed. "God Case, sometimes you think too much. Though I do dig the future vision you've got going."_

_They arrived at the house and they went in. George was going over some of his paperwork for the case he was working on. He gave them a smile. _

"_Dad, shouldn't you get some sleep?"_

_George stretched as he looked at his watch. "I suppose I need to get some sleep at some point, but I sill have some work to do."_

_Casey gave a shrug. "Don't mind us, we're just going to change and then watch some tv."_

_Casey went up to her room to change from her skirt and sweater into red flannel pajama pants and a white camisole. She went over to Derek's room. He was staring out the window._

"_Hey," she said._

_He smirked as he turned to look at her._

"_Oh my god, it's snowing!" she exclaimed as she joined him at the window._

_He put an arm around her._

"_Oh, it's so beautiful," she said as she watched the snow fall and slowly cover the ground with white._

_He kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "Alright, let's go cuddle on the couch and watch some tv as the snow falls."_

_She leaned up and kissed him. "Sure lover boy."_

_They went back down to the living room. Casey pulled a blanket over them as they cuddled._

_Soon Casey fell asleep, laying on Derek._

"_hey sweetie," he whispered some time later._

_She stretched. "Hmm?"_

"_come on, let's go to bed," he said as he nudged her up._

_She groaned._

_He chuckled as he lifted her. "Alright sweetie, I guess I'm taking you to bed."_

_She smiled. "I think I could get used to this."_

_He carried her up to her room and laid her down on her bed. He was about to leave when she groaned and pulled him down beside her. _

"_Stay," she yawned._

_He smirked as he kissed her on the forehead. "Cant get enough of me?"_

"_I guess not."_

_He lay beside her, holding her hand. He kissed her hand, right over the promise ring._

"_Love you Casey," he whispered._

"_Love you too Derek," she whispered as she cuddled close._

"Love you Case," Max said.

She gave him a faint smile.

He turned to talk to his dad.

She was twirling the promise ring around her finger when she felt eyes burning on her.

She looked up to lock eyes with…

"Casey," he said.

"Derek," she said quietly.

He was staring at her, his gaze burning on her and her fiddling fingers.

She blushed when she realized that he had caught her playing with the ring that Derek had given her.

He arched an eyebrow as he took a seat across from her.

* * *

Okay, so let me know what you think. I know I'm cruel to taunt you by just bringing Derek in at the very end. My bad, I guess I might have to start ducking again. But now she has him right in person, which means, well, I will let you guess until the next chapter. Please, please review to let me know what you think :D 


	7. unsure well wishes

Yeah, I'm back. Sorry for taking so long on getting this chapter done. But my favorite writer is back and I'm out of mourning, lol, plus I had a good day yesterday shopping in Seattle with my sister and best friend for Christmas. Hope you like the chapter, I'm not so sure about it, let me know if you think it worked.

* * *

The dinner was going as well as it should be. Casey had managed to avoid looking at Derek—at least without him knowing it, at least she hoped. It was after they had eaten that the toasts started for the well wishes on the next day.

Casey was hoping her dessert would come soon while she saw her dad stand to give a toast.

She gave a smile as she looked at her dad. He had been tossed between his feelings on Max especially since he had been idiot enough to pass her over back in high school. When they started dating two years ago, she was certain her father was glad just to see her date again after being so devastated over Derek for so long.

Dennis raised a glass.

"Here's to the happy couple. I hope that they find joy in their lives. Good wishes to the both of you," he said.

There were cheers and toast to them both.

A few more toasts followed.

Casey tried to sit there contently as Max occasionally squeezed her thigh as they were toasted to.

She gave a smile when he nudged her and raised a glass and tipped it towards her.

Soon the desserts arrived and Casey was enjoying her cheesecake; the only true delight of the dinner. There were no feelings involved in enjoying the divine cake. She savored every bite.

"Casey, what kind of cake did you get?" Vicki said looking down at her plate.

"The Brandy turtle's cheesecake," she said. "do you want to try a bite?"

Vicki shook her head. She leaned down with a smug smile on her face.

"I cant have it," she said.

"Why, not good for your figure?"

Vicki laughed as she shook her head again.

"I cant have it because of the brandy," she said quietly.

Casey frowned. "That's never stopped you before."

Vicki grinned then. "That's because I found out I'm pregnant."

Casey's eyes widened as she looked at Vicki with awe and surprise.

Vicki grinned even wider. "We found out just this morning and I didn't know when to tell you."

Casey clasped her hands. "Oh, it's so exciting. I'm so happy for you."

"What's exciting dear?" her mother asked as she sat down after returning from the ladies washroom.

Vicki looked at me and beamed. "Do you mind?"

Casey shook her head. "No, please worry about it. How often do we have all the family together in such a calm and friendly way?"

Vicki chuckled as she stood and walked over to her man. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I was just telling Casey our good news and she wants me to share it with you all."

"What is it Vicki?" Aunt Fiona said as she frowned at her daughter.

Vicki positively beamed. "Well Kevin and I are proud to announce that we're pregnant!"

Suddenly the couple was surrounded with people wishing them well and congratulating them on the good news.

"So, should we expect a wedding for you two sometime soon?" someone asked.

Casey was sure it was one of Max's older relatives.

She laughed. "Maybe she and Kevin should get married tomorrow. Heck, we've got all the stuff for a huge wedding."

There were a few chuckles.

Soon it calmed down, but Fiona and Harry were talking excitedly with Vicki and Kevin over the prospect of the first grandchild.

Casey rose from her seat and made her way to the washroom.

She stayed in the room for a few minutes. She stared at her reflection then sighed.

She was coming out of the washroom and just down the hall when she crashed into someone.

"Are you alright klutzilla?"

Casey felt infuriated with the name but felt tingly at the close contact between her and Derek.

She stepped back a step. "How are you Derek?"

He looked her over. "I should be asking you that."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

Derek gave her a pointed look. "Case, I have known you since we were fifteen, I can tell that there's something wrong with you. You have that look."

The frown etched on her forehead.

He chuckled. "You look as though you are thinking long and hard…"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Casey," he said softly. "I have known you through many moods and many passings of your life; I know that there is something up."

"I'm getting married tomorrow, isn't that enough?" she snapped.

He looked at her long and hard. "Yes, you are getting married tomorrow."

She felt just awful. She knew that she was having huge concerns about whether she could get married to a man that she may not love as much as she should.

He stroked her arm. "Case, if there is anything that you want to talk about, you know that you can come to me."

She smiled. "Thanks Derek. I'm surprised you can make that offer with your busy schedule as a big hockey star."

He grinned. "Well, I always told you that I would make it into pro hockey."

She smiled probably what was the most real smile in a long while. "Yes you always said you would make it."

She could run through a million memories of Derek in his determination to go pro.

She leaned against the wall. "Well, we're all very proud of you."

He gave her a careful look. He could tell there was something off with his Casey but he knew better than to push her.

"I know I was proud to hear that you had gotten signed onto the Leafs. I can only imagine the feeling of a dream coming true…"

He smirked. "I didn't have any doubt that I would achieve my dreams…"

"Have all your dreams come true?" she asked him.

He looked at her. She felt his eyes searching hers, almost like he was reaching into her soul. He always had a way of making her feel like there were no secrets from him.

It scared her a little that at that moment Derek might be able to see all of her secrets. To feel as though all of her thoughts were open for him to see, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"I think I have done well for myself. Some of it has felt very hollow since I did not get the chance to celebrate the good news with my loved ones."

"You got to celebrate the good news with George and Mom and everyone."

"Almost everyone."

Casey swallowed nervously. God, it was hard to look at him knowing that she was still in love with him. She was almost tempted to tell him all about her doubts about marrying Max and telling him to take her away.

Instead she managed to make small talk with him. But she could still feel the closeness between the two of them. It was almost like they never were apart. She felt like it was only yesterday that they were together—yet she knew that the three years of separation had created enough of a gap in their lives.

Casey had set her life up in New York just to be sure that she would be able to cure her broken heart while Derek had started his life in Toronto. They had gone their separate ways. Perhaps there was no going back. They could only go forward.

"Well Casey, I guess all I can say is that I wish you well for tomorrow and that I hope you will be happy."

Casey felt her heart break as he said those words. She knew she was not happy in her quasi perfect life that she had created to live with Max. her life was not as she imagined it would be—probably all because she had taken a very wrong turn in life by being so stubborn and difficult and having that horrible misunderstanding with Derek all those years ago and ruining her life in the process.

Derek stroked her arm once again. "Be happy Casey, you deserve it."

He turned and started walking back towards everyone else on the other side of the restaurant.

She heard herself screaming internally. _Derek, I need you! I need you to stop me from this huge mistake! I need you to love me back!_

The thoughts were entwined with memories of their great moments and a time she knew where she was happy, truly happy.

Knowing that Derek was walking away from her made something snap inside of her, she just knew she couldn't let him do that.

"_Casey, sometimes you have to live," Derek said as he dragged her along._

"_Oh Derek I don't know," she said as they got closer to the dock._

_He grinned at her. "Come on Case, we can do it together."_

_She frowned. _

"_You have been more risqué than this with me in the car," he smirked._

_They reached the end of the dock and Derek went to look over the edge. It was pitch black except for the moonlight cast from the full moon above their heads._

_Derek started tearing his clothes off._

"_this will be the most invigorating moment of your life. Trust me."_

_She frowned and pouted as she looked down at the water she knew would be cold._

_Derek was almost naked—the boxers were left and he had his hands at the waist._

"_Come on Casey, you jump I jump, we'll do it together."_

_She grinned. Yeah, he was cheesy but she felt empowered by his words. She stripped her clothes off too. They stood there naked, holding hands._

"_Alright, here we go," he laughed as he pulled her along._

_Together they jumped._

Casey shook her head, clearing the memory from her mind. They had joked throughout their relationship about that "you jump, I jump" mentality. They would use it as their grounds to agree to disagree or determine that they would venture through any decision together. They used it saying they would survive anything.

Well, she was going to have to jump.

"Derek," she called out.

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I know I know, very mean of me. But you will have to wait and see what happens next. So I hope to see at least 5 reviews otherwise no new chapter and you will just have to wait and wait, dying to know if Derek heard her or not. So please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter. I was tired and just kept typing… I hope everyone enjoyed it. 


	8. determined to be right

Wow, I'm overwhelmed by the quick response I had on the last chapter. I'm glad that y'all liked it. I hope that you like this chapter as well. Let me know what you think. I look forward to the reviews I get and I am thankful for all my loyal readers!!

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Derek turned back to look at her. 

Suddenly she had that funny adolescent nervous feeling. She almost laughed at her nervousness. She really did want to say nothing but she knew that the "you jump, I jump" was pumping through her veins and she knew she had to talk to him.

He came over to her, clearly telling that she was distraught.

She stopped fiddling with her hands to look him in the eyes.

"Derek, why did we never fix it?"

He looked at her carefully.

"How come?" she asked quietly.

He exhaled a deep breath. "Casey, are you sure you want to get into this right here?"

She felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

"Hey," he whispered as he wiped the tear away. "What's with the tears? You know I can't handle tears very well."

When she looked up at him she felt like a dam broke and she burst into tears.

He pulled her into his arms and tried to soothe her. She sobbed for a few minutes and he just held her close to him.

Finally she calmed down to some hiccups as she felt soothed by the sound of his heart beat.

He rubbed her back, saying nothing.

Finally she stood tall, pulling herself from his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I guess."

Again, he knew she was lying.

"So, let's get into this, why didn't we ever fix it Derek?"

He arched a brow.

"Really Derek, I need to know."

He sighed. "Casey, is it necessary to torture me with the questions about the whys and how comes. I torture myself with them enough."

"Derek, are you going to let me walk down that aisle tomorrow not letting me know why we didn't fix it if there had been a chance?"

He shook his head. "Case, I never had the chance to fix it."

She frowned.

"I was stupid and together we were so stubborn to admit that it was a stupid night that should never have happened. We let it get out of control and when I finally woke up to realize that—it was too late."

"Is it?"

He looked at her, a frown etched on his face.

"Derek, I think I'm making a mistake."

With those words uttered aloud, she felt immediate relief. She also knew it was the truth and she really wanted Derek to be her knight in shining armor again.

She was about to open her mouth to say something but was cut off by Derek.

He grabbed her and kissed her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, running a hand through his hair.

In that kiss she realized how much she missed him and that she knew that she would never stop loving him and she couldn't believe that she had let three years slide between them. It was a scary thought—soon she let all thoughts slide away and she absorbed by the kiss.

Then reality sunk in and she pulled away. They were not in the place to be doing this. Max and some of his family were ten feet away.

She was trying to catch her breath when she finally looked at him.

"Casey, are you going to go through with it?"

She didn't answer him.

"You can't possibly go through with it. You would be stupid to go through with it…

She glared at him.

"I don't mean that you are stupid, I mean if you can kiss me like that, there is no way you can go through with it. I mean can you really walk away from a kiss like that and say that you feel the same passion for him? There's no way you kiss me like that if you loved him and really wanted to marry him."

She rubbed at her temples.

She knew she couldn't go through with it. But she knew now that she wasn't just kidding herself by saying that she was still in love with Derek.

She just had to determine what to do. It wouldn't be easy, that was sure.

"Casey," he said, lifting her chin to make her look him in the eyes. "Casey, why is it a mistake to marry Max? "

She felt him probe her soul again with his eyes. She felt bare before him. Her weak soul was laid out before him and she could feel deep in her heart that she would never be able to shake him from her—ever!

"I can't marry him Derek," she said quietly.

"Why?" he asked her.

"I just can't."

"Casey, you're not really answering the question."

"I know."

"Well answer it."

"I can't."

"Can't or wont?"

She felt tears prickling her eyes, threatening to make an appearance.

"I'm scared to say it aloud."

He gave her a tight hug. It was a hug of deep comfort while it tried to show her that she could always rely on him. He would never judge her.

She let him hold her and she felt relief. She felt her soul being warmed and she almost felt whole again.

"Derek, I'm not sure we should be doing this here."

He nodded. "Probably not."

She sighed as she stepped out of his arms.

She started to walk back to the table. She was almost down the hall when she turned her head to look over her shoulder. "I'm still in love with you," she whispered.

After she uttered those words she walked on and went back to the table.

He stood there stock still. He wanted to run after her but knew this was a delicate situation and he couldn't expose her feelings to everyone.

She loved him; that was all that mattered. He had hated that they had been so young and stupid and tossed away the best thing that had ever happened to them.

But he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life if he let her go through with this sham of a wedding. He would never know the life he could have if he let her go and live a half life with a guy that she didn't really love.

He had never ever stopped loving her. He had spent the last three years mourning the loss of her from his life always wishing he could think of a way to get her back.

He had felt like his heart would shatter when he had heard that she had gotten together with Max. His heart had shattered when he heard that she was going to get married to him.

Casey was supposed to marry him. They had said they would both get the things they wanted in life, reach their goals, get married and work together on sharing their lives together.

He leaned against the wall. Casey was still burning on his lips.

"Hey Derek," Lizzie said.

"Hey Lizard," he smiled.

She gave him a careful look.

"Are you alright Derek?"

He shrugged.

"I know this must be hard for you to have to watch her marry someone else."

"I only care that she's happy."

Lizzie gave a smile. "Then make sure she's happy."

She left him by entering the washroom.

Derek frowned. Edwin really rubbed off on her. She and Edwin always seemed to know too much. He would blame it on their spying. They liked to know what was going on.

He took a deep breath and went back to the table. Most of the people had headed out, leaving only the wedding party, and George and Nora.

When he sat down, he was careful not to look at Casey with the burning passion that he felt. But after looking at her as she sat beside Max he knew that she was not happy. She looked like she was in agony.

She looked up at him, her eyes open to him. She needed him and was begging him to rescue her. He could hear in his memories "You jump, I jump". She had just jumped and now he had to follow. She had told him that she was making a mistake and still loved him. He of course still loved her, he had never ever stopped loving her. He didn't think he could ever stop loving her. She was his soul mate.

He sighed as he sat down. This was going to be one hell of an interesting wedding. Make that a non-wedding, because there was no way in hell he was going to let her go through with it.

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I know, I'm so cruel. I keep leaving you hanging. I cant help it!! Really, I cant… maybe I should start ducking again, lol… So five reviews and the next chapter is yours 


	9. feeling that old connection

Alright, so I would have tried to post this sooner but I lost my computer to a file corruption so I had to turn to geek squad to fix it. So I'm back. I hope you like this chapter. Please review.

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Casey listened to Vicki and Kevin's excited chatter in the car as they drove back to their place. To tell the truth, she was only half listening to the stuff they were talking about. She was consumed by the fact that she had told Derek to his face that she still loved him.

She subconsciously began to play with the promise ring again. This was a ring that had always felt right. Always had and always would.

"_Derek," she whispered as she kissed him up his neck._

_He groaned. _

"_Derek," she repeated, kissing up his chin._

_He didn't say anything as he let her have her way with him._

_Suddenly he grabbed her and pulled her into a hot, passionate kiss._

_After they were breathless and panting for air, he pulled her on top of him. "What do you want woman?"_

_She grinned. "Well, I'm thinking that since we're here in Mexico celebrating our graduation with all our friends, I'm thinking we should get up and check out some of the fun stuff to do."_

_He played with the strap of her camisole. "Are you sure you want to leave the room?"_

_She laughed. "Well, we can play around a little bit—then go and meet Emily and Sheldon, and Sam and Kendra."_

_Derek laughed as he flipped her over and kissed her down her side as he slipped her camisole off. _

"_I still can't believe that Kendra and Sam ended up hooking up."_

_Casey laughed but then moaned as he started to kiss her tenderly across her chest and started to slip his hands to the waistband of her lacey boy shorts._

"_Well, stranger things have happened," she said in between moans and sighs of pleasure._

"_Yeah, you fell in love with one hell of a hell raiser and managed to tame him to a shell of mushiness."_

_She laughed as she ran her fingers over her chest._

_They enjoyed the next while then went to share a shower. They went to meet up with the others and caught the bus that would take them zip-lining in the mountains._

Casey smiled at the memory. They had all gone to Mexico for graduating high school. Their parents had paid for it and were going to give them separate rooms, but gave up in that since most of the best package deals were for one rooms and they knew that they wouldn't be able to stop them from anything. So they gave in. figuring that since there was some others going that they were all going to be safe, that was what was going to matter the most.

They had enjoyed a week there with their friends and keeping the heat and passion between them as they had no restrictions.

She had to love all the memories she had with Derek. She was probably the freest then. She was able to be herself and not feel like she had to prove something to everyone else. He had accepted her for all that she was and loved her for the person she kept growing into.

When they arrived back at the house Casey somehow found herself walking up the stairs. She stopped at Derek's door.

She knew that he would be spending the night there after he got a ride home from Edwin. The plan had been for Derek to be close to them all in the morning rather than driving in from Toronto for the wedding.

The idea of Derek sleeping so close was disturbing within itself.

She took a deep breath and continued to her room. She closed the door behind her and slumped against it.

Maybe she should just call a cab, grab a plane, and take off. She could go anywhere. Not New York though. She was thinking that maybe she was done with New York, she loved being close to her dad and having the chance to be in the great city of New York, but maybe she needed to be closer to her other family—and Derek.

She flopped onto her bed. God, she was going to go insane and not in the good way. She was in the biggest mess ever. But she knew that should she walk then she would be supported by her family. They all wanted her to be happy.

She wanted to be happy. Maybe she should take off to Hawaii, or Mexico, catch some sun. Hell, she could fly anywhere in the world. She had some vacation time right now and now would be the best time to do it.

She stared at the ceiling but she was beginning to feel restless beyond a doubt. She couldn't take it anymore.

"_Casey, come on, you need to take a break."_

_She frowned as he tried to take her book away from her. "Hey, I was reading that."_

_He smirked. "Are you too busy to come out with me to a campus party? I mean did you really come all this way to study and only sense my presence?"_

_She stuck her tongue out._

"_hey, don't start something you cant finish," he grinned as he started to crawl over her on the bed._

_She fell back on her back and let him start kissing her. _

"_I don't know," she smiled._

"_Come on, let's go to a frat party. It should be entertaining."_

_He kissed her some more and ran his hands over her body._

"_Alright, I think you've managed to convince me."_

_He grinned as he helped her up. _

_She suddenly grinned. "Wait till you see the outfit I brought with me."_

_Somehow she managed to be coy and change into her outfit. It was a short little pink skirt and a lacy white tank top with a pink sweater._

_When Derek entered his dorm room and saw what she was wearing, he stopped in his tracks, his mouth hanging open._

"_You're wearing that?"_

_She grinned as she twirled around._

"_What is there something wrong with what I'm wearing?"_

_He shook his head. "I'm just not sure I want to be showing to all the guys here what a hottie you are."_

_She smiled as she leaned up on her toes to kiss him. She looked him over and smiled. "You don't look so bad yourself."_

_He was wearing dark blue jeans and a black striped shirt over a black shirt._

_They went across campus to the Sigma Chi frat house. Some of the guys had joined on the grounds that there were a lot of parties._

_Casey could only remember lots of guys trying to tell her to break up with her boyfriend and kept offering her more drinks._

_Finally she felt so out of it that she knew Derek had a difficult time getting them both back across campus to his dorm. She chattered on and on about how much she loved him and so on during the entire walk._

She got up and threw her jacket back on. She had to get out of her room and escape the millions of memories she had with her and Derek. She also wanted to run away from her dreadful and doubtful feelings she had about her relationship with Max.

But somehow she knew that she wouldn't be able to escape everything as much as she wanted to.

The house had quieted down—she figured that most of her family was asleep and the other half was probably enjoying a quiet rest of the evening.

When she got down the stairs she saw her mom sitting on the couch.

"Hey Casey," she smiled.

"Hey mom," she said, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Her mom gave her a small smile.

"I'm just going to go for a walk. You know, to clear my head."

Her mom gave a nod. "Just be careful."

She smiled at her mom. "Don't worry, I have my cell phone with me."

Nora smiled at her. "I hope the walk helps to clear your head."

George entered the living room and took a seat next to Nora. "Oh hey Casey," he smiled at her.

She gave a smile.

"Going out?"

She gave a bright smile. She had to love them. Her mom always knew more than she let on, while George could be really clueless sometimes. But they always supported their children.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Just need to go for a walk—got to clear my head before the big day."

She went over and kissed them both on the cheek then she went out the door.

She started walking and kept walking. She finally stopped when she found herself at the park. It was quiet. She walked over to the swings and sat on one.

She watched as cars passed by. Her life was passing her by in those moments. She felt like her head was swelling from all the memories as they reminded her of what she had and showed her of the signs she missed while she was with Max.

She looked up at the sky, seeing the stars and the almost full moon.

Suddenly she heard someone else in the park but she didn't see the point in worrying about the other person.

Then someone was sitting next to her on the next swing. She knew immediately who it was.

"Hey Case," he said.

"Derek," she breathed.

He grabbed her swing and turned her to look at him.

Casey looked at him. Looking into his eyes, she could feel her soul connect with his. This was what made her feel like the true woman that she was.

He grabbed her hands, bringing it his mouth; he kissed the inside of her palm.

"how are you doing love?"

She felt the threat of tears. He was being the Derek that she had fallen in love with. In that moment with Derek holding her hands and looking into her eyes, there was nothing else. No wedding, no Max, nothing. She was just there with Derek. They could deal with reality later, she just wanted to enjoy this moment.

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No I'm not done. I just thought it would be nice to not leave such a blatant cliffie ending. But please, let me know what you think, its hard for me to go on if I don't get encouragement, well, besides from my loyal few, whom I love entirely!!! Keep it up, I love reviews, they make it a great experience. 5 and its yours… I mean she hasn't walked from the wedding yet, has she, I might still make her do it… you'll just have to see, lol 


	10. caught in good times

Yeah, you really love me!! I hope to hear from you all, I poured some blood, sweat and tears into this one. I really hope you like it and don't be shy to let me know what you think, even its as cliché to say update soon!! Enjoy!

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Derek held her for what felt like forever. It was the best feeling—nothing could bother her. She was able to just let her be held and feel safe.

She sighed as she pulled out of his arms.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked, even though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer to that.

"When I got to the house, I had gone to get myself a drink and your mom came in and mentioned that you went for a walk and she was a little worried about you. I decided to come and look for you. I knew that you would end up here."

She gave him a smile.

He studied her. She looked so beautiful but so vulnerable. He hated to see her so miserable.

"Why are you going to do it?" he asked her.

"Why what?"

"Why did you agree to marry him?"

She felt a tear slip down her cheek. "Because I didn't have you and I didn't want to end up alone."

He saw the tear and felt like a wreck. He could never deal with tears. He pulled her close again, not wanting to let her go.

She let him hold her again, taking his warmth.

He looked back at her. "How can you still love me?"

She laughed. "I don't know. I just know I still do. I probably never stopped even when I thought I had. I was so far away in New York with my dad and Max. After I left McGill I didn't think that I could bear it to see you with someone else."

"I didn't really date her—she wasn't you."

She gave him a small smile. "But as far as I could tell, we had both moved on. So when Max and I ran into each other—it was just convenient. I went into it thinking we could just be friends and I would have someone from home in New York with me. The next thing I knew, we were dating and suddenly a year and a half passed and he proposed. I was just so shocked and at the time excited and said yes."

Derek just listened to her, his heart aching as he listened to her.

"I just always had you in the back of my mind, somehow nothing could ever compare to you. I just didn't know that I was doing it. But for this past while I haven't felt right about getting married to Max. I knew though that when I was leaving New York with Lizzie that I was scared about this. I knew that something was wrong."

"When you announced last Christmas that you were getting married I thought my heart broke all over again," Derek said quietly.

She sighed. "I don't know how I didn't know I was still in love with you. Being home just brought it all out. I've been overwhelmed with thoughts and memories of you and I just knew that if I truly loved Max you wouldn't be on my mind."

Derek took her hand and held it up. "Is that why you're wearing this again?"

She glanced down at the promise ring.

"My chain broke," she said softly.

He frowned.

"I've never taken it off—at least not really. I wore it for the first while on my finger then I bought a chain. The chain broke this morning and I couldn't find another one, so I put it on."

He smiled as he fiddled with it. Then a thought struck him.

"Casey, would it have made a difference if I had tried harder?"

She sighed. "Derek," she said softly.

"No, I'm asking you if it would have made a difference if I had tried or fought harder for you."

She felt the trickle of a rogue tear slip down her cheek. "I don't know Derek. There's no way that I can know that. I mean had you come to me the next day would I have taken you back, probably not, in fact I didn't. It was two weeks later when the two of us ran out wind that we probably should have tried but we were both too stubborn. There is no way to know how we could have fixed it Derek."

Derek heard her words and felt the heartbreak in them.

"All I know Derek," she said, looking into his eyes. "Is that I never ever stopped loving you. We agreed to forever and a day right."

Next thing they knew, they were kissing.

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her with all his might.

Casey felt like she was melting as Derek kissed her with all the passion that seemed to be lacking from her life.

He ran his tongue along her lip and she opened to let him enter and invade her soul allover again. She ran her hands through his hair.

He ran his hands through her hair, down her back, all over, feeling her.

All she knew was that she needed him. She wanted to feel him.

He kissed her down her neck while his hands slipped under her layers to her skin to fondle her.

She moaned his name as she felt him, physically and emotionally.

He scooped her up in his arms, her legs around his waist. He laid them on the ground on his jacket that he had dropped onto the cold ground just seconds before.

It was a hot make out session with intense groping.

Casey moaned then caused him to moan when she nipped his neck.

"You drive me crazy," he said in between hot kisses.

They held each other in their passionate embrace, close to the edge of lost control.

She was wearing her skirt still, so he slipped his hands under. He opened his pants.

She wondered about the morals of the situation but she wasn't sure if they warranted real consideration. She had a tiny feeling of guilt but it was overridden with the heat of the moment and how right it felt.

They joined together right there in the park, in hot flurry of passion. It was a moment of reconnection. Hot passion heated through them and they came together, nearly shouting each other's names right there in the park, into the night. Instead they whispered it to each other, looking at each other with all the love that they had never escaped.

Afterwards they lay there on the ground. Derek pulled her up, straightening them up. He smiled as he held her close.

"That was amazing," he said quietly.

She smiled.

He pulled her to him, her back to his chest as he held there, protecting her from the cold, the world, reality. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her, tight.

"Run away with me," he whispered.

She turned to crane her neck and look up at him.

"What?" she said, her eyes wide.

"Come away with me. Let's leave tonight. We'll just leave here and go away. I have a break since I hurt my ribs in that last fight. They have told me to take it easy. I can take a week with you then we'll hide out in my hotel while we hit the road while the finals near. You need some time off."

"I don't know Derek. This is so sudden."

His eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

She took a deep breath. "Okay, but you know what I mean."

He shook his head. "You can't go through with this wedding. You can't possibly leave me here after we shared this great night together and go and marry him."

Derek's voice cracked. He felt like he might lose her all over again. He wasn't sure he could bear it again. He barely survived the first time.

Casey's heart almost broke when she heard the vulnerability in his voice. To hear the desperation, the heart ache, it was almost a surreal feeling.

She pulled his arms around her tightly.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear. "Forever and a day… so let's run away."

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I know, I know, duck. So I'm ducking right now and dodging. I think that there is going to be some major digital wreckage heading my way, lol. So give me reviews and you can find out what Casey decides to do.


	11. a good decision to follow through

I'm glad that everyone liked the last chapter, I know, it was a little steamy, and hopefully you will like the chapters yet to come!! Please please let me know what you think!!!

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Casey didn't say anything. She sat with Derek for hours until they could no longer sit. Finally they got up and headed back to the house. Derek kept his arm around her protectively as he guided her to his car that he had brought. 

She had to smile that he knew her that well and had driven to the park to come be with her.

When they arrived at the house, she looked at it a little ominously. She knew she had to decide but then everything would seem final in her mind. But she knew though that there was no way that she wanted to spend the night alone.

They quietly got into the house, Derek holding her hand as they went up the stairs.

They stopped in the hallway. She looked at her door and then his.

"You coming in?" he asked her.

She took a deep breath and nodded.

It was an easy decision, at least compared to the other one. But she knew where she was leaning towards.

They entered his room that hadn't been changed.

Casey laughed as she felt like she was going through a blast from the past.

He grinned as he looked at her then quickly guided her to the bed. He was over top of her, kissing her everywhere.

"I have missed this," he said as he helped her out of her clothes and stared at her naked body.

She smiled up at him then pulled him down and rolled them over so that she was on top and helped him out of his clothes.

This was better than the park because now they could really see each other.

He grabbed her hands, pulling her closer so that they were skin to skin. She moaned as he kissed down her neck.

His finger ran over her engagement ring and froze.

She sucked in a deep breath then with a quick motion she pulled the ring off and placed it on the night table beside his bed.

The instant gratification from just that gesture was enough to make her throw herself more fully into their passionate love making.

He rolled her over again, a smirk on his lips. "Let's see if I can't convince you to run away with me," he said, in between kisses down her chest and rib cage.

She moaned in pleasure.

This time it was slow, languid. They wanted to make love and show each other how much they missed each other and reconnect on a level that was more than physical.

When they came together, it was in one passionate kiss and Derek held her close.

She felt safe, protected, and perfectly content.

They fell asleep holding each other, like they had never let each other go all those years ago.

Casey awoke hours later. She glanced at the clock; it was seven thirty in the morning.

She groaned. It was her wedding day. Oh the torture of the situation. She spotted her engagement ring, and picked it up.

She twiddled it in her fingers then sat it down again.

Casey turned to look at Derek. His arm was wrapped around her waist, holding her securely against him.

He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Hey," he said groggily.

She gave him a small smile. "Hey."

"How are you?" he asked her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Feeling well loved," she laughed.

He chuckled.

She turned to look at him. "Let's do it!"

His eyes widened. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yes, let's do it."

He grinned. "Okay, but I think we need to move quick. You are supposed to be getting married to Max today."

She nodded again. "I know—but first I really need a shower."

She got up from bed, grabbed his robe, kissed him soundly then went to the bathroom to have a shower.

When she got out she made her way to her room. She saw her wedding dress hung up on her closet door. She grimaced. It was such a beautiful expensive dress, it was a shame that it might go to waste. She laughed though; well she could always wear it for Derek.

She grabbed some sweat pants and a tank top and put it on. She started throwing all her clothes into her bag.

Lizzie burst into her room. "Good morning sunshine!"

Casey looked at her sister. "Uh, morning Liz."

Liz gave her a strange look. "Are you alright Case?"

"Yeah," she said, her heart starting to pound. "I'm just fine."

Lizzie frowned as she closed the door quietly.

"Casey, you are a horrible liar."

She sat down on her bed while Lizzie stood there, waiting.

"Liz, there is no way that I can go through with this wedding."

Lizzie took a deep breath. "Is it just cold feet? I mean, women get nervous all the time on the day of their wedding…

Casey shook her head. "No Liz, I don't think it's that at all. I should have known all along that I wasn't truly happy with Max. I have been lying to myself and living in denial saying that we had a great life and a very promising future."

Lizzie sat down beside her. "Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to run away?"

Casey looked away.

Lizzie laughed. "Really, miss organized herself is going to say the hell with it and run away?"

Casey groaned as she put her face in her hands then stood and started pacing the floor, clearly agitated.

"I have got to talk to Max. I just can't run away. I am going to leave but I have to say something to him. I don't want to jilt him at the altar like this. I'm going to call him."

Lizzie just sat there, knowing that she had to let Casey do this. She would try and suggest otherwise, but Casey was a mess. Then it dawned on her that she needed to grab Derek.

She left the room while Casey was now pacing the floor holding her cell phone.

Lizzie took a deep breath before knocking and opening Derek's door.

Derek was throwing stuff in his bag, talking to someone on his cell phone.

"Right, two tickets… charge it to my card… thanks," he said, then dropped the phone on the bed.

He turned and looked at Lizzie.

"What's up?"

Lizzie felt elated. She was grateful that Casey wasn't just going off the deep end. Derek had listened to her and was going to take her away.

"You better get Casey. She wants to talk to Max and I really don't think that is a good idea. You know how she is. If she suddenly feels guilty about what she's about to do to Max, she might just go through with it."

Derek froze. "No!" he said venomously. "She couldn't."

Lizzie took a deep breath. "Well, then hurry up. She was still pacing when I left her a minute ago."

Derek rushed past her and entered Casey's room.

She stopped her pacing when she felt him in her room, the cell phone still in her hand.

"Love, what are you doing?"

She looked like she was about to cry.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

He took a deep breath as he went and pulled her into his arms. "We're saving you from making a big mistake."

He kissed her and she calmed right down.

"Come on you two, hurry up and pack. I will take you to the airport. They will just think that I took you to the salon. I will throw them off your scent and when I get back I will take care of it. Deal with it in your own time."

Casey nodded and grabbed her sister in a tight hug. "Thank you Lizzie, I appreciate this so much."

"Alright, come on we really don't have much time. Let me call Edwin, he's going to have to help me with this."

Derek helped Casey pack the rest of her bag. He kissed her once more. "Come on, let's go."

She nodded then stopped. "Wait, hold on."

She ran to Derek's room, grabbed her engagement ring and came back. She sat down at her desk and quickly wrote a note. She then stood and gave it to Lizzie.

"Please give this to Max."

Lizzie nodded. "Now, get going. I will meet you in the car in just a minute," she said holding her keys up to Derek.

Derek guided Casey down the stairs, outside, to the car. He threw their bags into the trunk and put her in the front seat.

Soon Lizzie was in the car; she started the car and started driving.

Casey was feeling a little bit nervous but excited at the same time. She knew that she was making the right decision. She couldn't be with Max and living a lie. She had always loved Derek and been struggling to live a healthy life without him.

So here she was, sitting in the car, Derek sitting behind her, leaning forward to hold her hand.

Once they were at the airport, Lizzie looked at them.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Casey turned to look at Derek.

He grinned. "I arranged it while you were getting ready. I got us tickets to Bali. We'll get a week all inclusive at a nice resort and we can just take the week to escape and make plans for when we get back."

Lizzie nodded. "Alright you two, get the hell out of here. If you happen to get married," she said with a bright smile on her face as she handed over the two bags she had brought with her. "You might need these."

Casey gasped as she saw her wedding dress and Derek's tux for his role in the wedding party as an usher.

"Who says we're getting married?" Derek asked, frowning but with a smirk.

"If you don't get married then I will owe Marti a hundred bucks."

Casey frowned. "You guys are betting on us?"

Lizzie shrugged. "Have fun you two; make sure that everything is worked out. I would love to have you back in the area," she said to Casey.

Casey smiled as she hugged her sister. "Thanks Lizzie."

"Ok, now get going."

Derek smirked then hugged Lizzie.

"I'm glad you're going to make her happy," she whispered into his ear.

They grabbed their bags then made their way to the ticket booth to check in.

"Just let us throw the two of you a huge reception when you get back and call us to let us know that you're both safe."

They waved to her then went to check in, holding hands.

Lizzie took a deep breath as she started back to her car. Now she had to go home and let them know what has happened.

* * *

So I finished the last chapter and thought oh my, that went its own way and it went its own way in this chapter, I had a plan and this story has not gone the way it was written out to… but I like it, I think, please let me know what you think, please, because now I have to finish the story on the path that it decided to run, 5 reviews at least and I will pump out the next chapter


	12. family and aftermath

I'm so glad that everyone loved the last chapter, the response I got was phenomenal, keep up the awesome reviews, it shows the love!! Hope you enjoy, warning it is a lot different than the other chapters. But it just took over and this is what had to happen.

* * *

Lizzie parked the car and got out. She went in, holding the ring and note that Casey had given her. First she had to break it to her family then they would have to band together and figure out how to call off the wedding.

When she got inside, her mom practically pounced on her.

"Where's Casey?" she asked.

Lizzie took a deep breath.

"Yeah about that," Lizzie said as she entered the living room. "Casey won't be coming today."

There was a chorus of exclamations as the family exploded over this announcement.

"What do you mean she won't be coming?" Dennis asked, a frown on his face, sitting on the couch across from George.

Aunt Fiona looked stunned. "I would expect this of Vicki, but Casey?"

"Hey," protested Vicki.

Fiona gave her a pointed look and Vicki laughed.

Nora took a deep breath. "Actually I don't think I'm that surprised."

Vicki was sipping her tea and eating some toast. Kevin came to sit beside her.

"Has anyone seen Derek?" he asked.

Edwin and Marti were coming in from the kitchen at this point.

When Edwin heard Derek's name, he coughed.

George looked at him sharply. "Edwin?"

Edwin started gaping then turned back for the kitchen.

"Edwin!" George said sharply.

He laughed nervously as he looked at his dad.

"Edwin, where is Derek? It's bad enough that Lizzie took Casey so that she could run away from her wedding but where the heck is your brother?"

Nora groaned as she smacked her forehead and shook her head.

"Where are they going?" Nora turned to Lizzie.

Lizzie took a deep breath. "They've gone to Bali."

"Bali?"

Lizzie nodded. "I'm supposed to give this to Max," she said holding up the ring and the note.

Nora rolled her eyes upwards as she took them from Lizzie.

"Nora?" George said a little nervously.

"Georgie," Nora said sweetly. "It is exactly what it sounds like. They've run away together."

Dennis laughed. "Well, I'll be darned."

Nora exhaled as she took a seat next to George. "Alright, we somehow have to call off a wedding. What the heck are we going to do?"

Vicki laughed. "Maybe that's why Case suggested that I get married today."

Nora turned to look at her sharply.

Vicki's smile froze. "Sorry Aunt Nora, I'm just kidding."

"No," she said, shaking her head, "it might be a good idea."

Vicki laughed. "Right and where would I get a dress?"

Nora and Fiona looked at each other, and then smiled.

Vicki looked back and forth between her aunt and her mother. "What's going on? What are you two thinking?"

"Leave it to us. Somehow, we're going to pull of the impossible. You two can have a nice small family wedding—if you want."

Vicki looked at Kevin and they both grinned.

"I'm game," Kevin smiled.

"Now what do we do about the other thing?" Harry asked.

Nora rubbed her forehead then looked at her husband. "Oh Georgie, what do we do?"

"Well, Casey wanted Max to get the ring and note, so we should give it to him. We have six hours till the wedding. We can easily deal with the… okay; I'm not sure exactly how we are going to deal with this. Casey is the one that would be able to handle a situation like this."

Nora nodded her agreement. "Yes she would George, but as it is, we have to ban together as a family because they're our family and we need to protect them."

"I just wish we could go because I bet you anything that they're going to end up married while they're in Bali," Marti frowned.

"I thought you bet me that they wouldn't," Edwin said looking at her.

"Yeah Marti, you said they wouldn't," Lizzie frowned.

George rolled his eyes. "Guys, it would have been nice if you had warned us about all of this."

Dennis laughed then. "Casey was trying to warn us all that she wasn't happy. And I'm sure that we can all agree that Derek and Casey never got over each other."

There were murmurs of agreement.

"Now, let me go and talk to Max and his parents. Maybe we can grab his friends and get them to take him away just so he can nurse his ego over this situation. But it will all work out and Kevin, if you want to call your family then we'll help you two have your own little wedding."

Nora looked at Dennis gratefully. "Thank you."

"Well don't thank me yet," he said.

He took the note and engagement ring from Nora.

Lizzie looked at her father. "I want to go with you," she said.

He looked at her carefully, "alright."

Then a flurry of activity took place.

"Come on Vicki," her mother said, "there are a few choices for a wedding dress."

"Not Casey's though," Lizzie laughed from the doorway.

Nora took a deep breath. "Oh this was not how I planned on spending the day."

"Look on the bright side Mom," Lizzie said with a smile, "she's with Derek and she'll move back to the area."

Nora grinned at that. "I hadn't thought of that."

Dennis rolled his eyes. "You women, maybe we should find a way to arrange to fly out to Bali to watch them get married. I want to see my daughter's union to her soul mate."

George scoffed. "Well, let's take care of this today and then when they call us we'll make them tell us what their plans are and maybe we can see about that."

Nora practically beamed. "Good idea Georgie."

It was a flurry of activity after that.

Edwin and Marti started calling the family to let them know that the wedding was off but they were more than welcome to come to Vicki and Kevin's wedding that was going to take place that day.

Fiona and Harry went about trying to put together the quick details for Vicki. When the stylist came, she took over Vicki's hair, same for the make up artist when she came.

Meanwhile Lizzie and her dad arrived at the hotel where Max and his mates were staying.

Dennis knocked on the door.

Max's best man Jeff opened the door; he was holding a Molson Canadian.

"Mr. MacDonald," he said, looking up at him. Then he spotted Lizzie and frowned.

"Can I see Max," Dennis said.

"Um, Max is…" he looked at the other guys.

"Where is he?"

"He's not really feeling so well," Peter, another of Max's friends, said.

Dennis cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really, well I suggest that you get him out here right now if you know what's good for you. I have to talk to him."

They all looked really nervous, suddenly Max appeared, wiping his mouth, and looking like shit.

"Mr. Macdonald," Max said with wide eyes.

"Max, I was wondering if I could have a word with you."

He nodded and came into the hallway, closing the door behind him. He wreaked of… booze and puke.

Dennis frowned. "Have you been drinking?"

Max let out a belch and wobbled a little. "I was just a little nervous, you know, about getting married."

Dennis took a deep breath. "Are you sure you really want to get married there son?"

Max took a deep breath. "I think it's just a nerves thing sir."

Dennis looked at Lizzie with a look of relief.

"Casey wanted me to give this to you," Dennis said, handing him the note.

Max frowned as he started to read it.

_Max, I'm sorry that I have to do this to you, but I can't marry you. I love you but I don't think that I love you in the way you deserve to be loved. I hope you can forgive me, I imagine that you will when you meet the right person for you. If you think about it, I'm sure you will agree with me when I say that the two of us are not meant to be married. I know you will probably be pretty mad, but we will deal with this later. Just send my stuff to my dad from your New York apartment. I just hope that one day; you'll forgive me for doing this to you. Right now as you are reading this, I will be gone and I will be doing what is best for me… and you. With all my love that you had, but not the kind worthy of you, Casey._

Max exhaled a deep breath then closed his eyes.

"Just like that," he said.

Dennis handed him the ring.

"She wanted to do it in person but felt like there was no right way to do this," Lizzie quietly said.

Max gave a nod. "Okay."

Dennis gave him a hard look. "I think you're relieved she's run."

Max shrugged then frowned. "She's run?"

Dennis shrugged. "She's long gone and I'm not at liberty to discuss it with you."

Max clenched his jaw. "But there I was declaring my love for her and prepared to get married for her and she's gone and left me jilted!"

Dennis patted him on the shoulder. "I can understand that this is hard for you. My suggestion for you would be to take off with your buddies for Vegas. I can't imagine what you're feeling but I do know that it would be hard to hang around on the day you were supposed to be getting married."

Max leaned against the door. "What about the honeymoon tickets?"

Dennis grabbed his blackberry and went through the phone files. "This is the number of my secretary, call her and she will help you change your tickets so then you and your buddies can terrorize the city of lights."

Max seemed to like the idea while he was absent-mindedly fiddling with the ring.

He then took the blackberry and let Dennis arrange with the secretary the changing of the New Zealand honeymoon to a penthouse suite in Vegas.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way," Dennis said, patting him on the arm again.

Max shrugged. "I guess this is just the way it is."

He went back into the suite to talk to the guys.

Lizzie looked at her dad. "That seemed almost too easy."

Dennis nodded. "It was, but I think that they both know that they would have made a mistake. It will take Max longer for him to realize it but he will. It will be rough when they have to send stuff back and forth and most likely when Casey appears in the trash magazines when news gets leaked out about Derek's big elopement scandal, but even then I think it won't even make a splash. Derek will take care of her."

"Now," he said, putting an arm around her. "Let's go see about Vicki's wedding then finding out about seeing your sister's wedding—whenever, however it may happen."

Lizzie grinned. "By the way, you owe me a hundred bucks."

Dennis laughed as they made their way to the elevator. "I guess I do."

* * *

Alright, so there was no Casey and Derek in this chapter, but I will get to Bali, don't you worry. Please review, I know this chapter was different than the others, but I felt like you all needed to know what happened back at home while Derek and Casey run to Bali.


	13. A Bali Paradise

Hey everybody, sorry it took so long to work on this. I had it written out then someone went on my laptop and didn't know how to work it so my chapter was lost… so I had to redo it and I had a tough time recreating the magic, so hopefully this works, hope you enjoy!

* * *

Derek opened his eyes and stretched. He turned to look at the woman lying in bed beside him. She was lying on her stomach, her hair sprawled on the pillow. She looked like a sleeping angel—his sleeping angel.

He rested his head on his arm as he looked over her. He was still in shock that he had her back with him again. He knew deep in his heart that he would be thankful to the almighty for having the chance to be with her again.

He found it amazing that they were here—in Bali, together. He felt like his life was almost complete. His life had been a misery after the previous Christmas when Casey announced to the family that Max and she were engaged. His first game back on the ice, he was out in the box for one hell of a fight with the captain of the San Jose team. He got checked and all his anger from Casey's engagement announcement came out and he just went at it.

His coach threatened to bench him for the rest of the game if he didn't get his act together. He got into another fight which was instigated by one of the forwards. His coach didn't bench him even though he looked like he wanted to but because the fight was instigated by the other team.

He knew he had to get over it and he did but it was hard for him to imagine Casey spending the rest of her life with someone that was not him. He spent months in a slump, playing his heart out but still not with the same gusto that made him _the_ Derek Venturi, hockey god. All he knew now was that his prayers had somehow been answered and he felt somewhat invincible.

He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead as he brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. She seemed to smile in her sleep, but remained deep asleep.

Derek could only imagine her mental exhaustion. He knew that it had not been easy for her but was glad of the outcome; he just had to take care of her now.

That would be no hardship; he smiled as he got up from the bed. He pulled on a loose pair of cotton pajama pants, grabbed his cell phone and made his way to the open veranda overlooking the private pool.

It was a few hours later when she shuffled over to the lounge chair on the veranda. She was stretching her arms above her head when she swept down beside him and planted a warm kiss on his lips.

"Hey lover," she smiled lazily at him as she curled up in his arms.

"Hey," he smirked as he ran his hands down her back. "Did you get a good sleep?" he asked her.

She blushed.

"Hey," he said, tipping her chin so that she was looking at him. "You need the rest. You've had a rough week and you're probably more drained than you realize."

She gave a small smile.

"Now let's go check out the sights of the place," he said, giving her a warm kiss.

She let him help her to her feet then she went and grabbed a shower, pulling him in with her. Afterwards she pulled on a bikini and covered up with khaki shorts and a loose linen shirt.

Derek stared at her as she stood, checking her purse.

He wanted her again and he just had her twenty minutes ago. He took a deep breath as he kissed her neck.

She moaned and turned to kiss him passionately on the lips.

Finally Derek pulled back. "We better go and see the island otherwise we'll just spend the whole time worshipping each other."

She smiled brightly. "I could enjoy that later."

He winked at her.

She kissed him then pulled her purse over her shoulder. "Come on lover boy, the volcano awaits."

They went in a jeep ride to Gunung Batur and did the hike and checked out the great beauty of the volcano. They returned to the villa later that evening and got ready for dinner. They went to the Terrace and enjoyed the view of the golf course and the ocean.

They were enjoying the Gai Hor Bai Toey and a few other dishes, while Derek was sweet talking her.

She smiled when they finished the dinner and then left to go walk on the beach.

She was holding her shoes and walking in the small waves as they caressed the sand around her feet.

He was holding her hand, as he walked in the sand alongside her.

They stopped at a palm tree that was down, stretched across the sand.

He lifted her off her feet so she was sitting on the tree.

"Casey," he said as held her hands and looked deeply into her eyes, pulling them into their own private world of just the two of them.

"Yes," she said breathlessly.

He kissed her gently on the lips. "Marry me," he said.

"What?" she said, pulling back to look at him more clearly.

"Marry me, spend your life with me," he said, holding her hands tightly and staring intently into her eyes.

She gave a small smile.

"I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else and I would love the chance to spend the rest of our lives together, have children, grandchildren—everything. I want to spend my whole life with you."

He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a silver and opal ring. It was simple with a tribal design on the band.

"I know its not the big diamond I imagined I would be able to give you but I wanted the moment to be special and thought I would have a ring from Bali to signify our new beginning. I wanted to have something we could look back on and remember how we got our fresh start with each other again."

She positively beamed at him.

"Let me try and make you happy, let me have the chance to show you how much I love you and want to spend the rest of our lives together. Please, marry me and become my wife so we can share the rest of our lives together."

She felt a small happy tear slide down from the corner of her eye. She gave him a glowing smile as she threw her arms around him.

"Yes!" she said. "Yes! I will marry you!"

After he slid the ring on, he grabbed her and spun her around, kissing her fervently. They clung together in the embrace.

"I say we get married here and be done with it," she grinned. "I think Lizzie was right when she made sure we had some formal clothes."

Derek smirked and kissed her again. When he let her go, he smiled sheepishly.

"I figured that it was a great idea so…"

She frowned.

"While you were sleeping this morning, I made some calls."

"And?"

"And everyone can be here tomorrow afternoon and we can be married either tomorrow evening or the next morning."

"Derek!"

He smirked, "what?"

She was frowning at him but suddenly burst into a bright smile and laughed.

"It's brilliant," she said as she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

"When do you want to get married then?"

She pursed her lips as she thought. "I would say let's just do it, but let's give them the chance to adjust to coming all this way. We'll get married the next afternoon."

He smirked. "I knew you would say that."

"You did not!"

He laughed. "Okay, so I didn't know that you would say that, so that's why I arranged for the ceremony to be held that day. Tomorrow we can go and get the registration completed and get all the papers we'll need and do all the arrangements so that we can make this the perfect little wedding for the two of us."

Casey shrieked in excitement as she threw her arms around him. "Oh my god, we're finally going to do it! We're going to get married!"

He kissed her.

"Shall we go back to the villa?" he asked her in between kisses.

She smiled in the kiss.

"Sounds perfect, let's get the honeymoon started."

He arched a brow. "I like the way you think soon-to-be wife."

She smiled brightly. "Mrs. Casey Venturi… I like the way it sounds."

He grinned as he scooped her off her feet and started walking back up the beach. "I like the way it sounds too—I'd like it better if I could say it in the privacy of our own villa."

"Lead the way Venturi."

* * *

Dun dun dun…. I know, you're dying for the wedding, the real wedding. Well, you'll just have to wait. I'm working on it, should be brilliant!! Give me 10 reviews, and you've got it… that should give me enough time to get cracking on the next chapter, but now that I'm finally better, I should be able to get going on this again, so please review, show the love and I will show mine by giving you the Derek/Casey wedding 


	14. preparing for the right occasion

Thanks for the reviews and I'm glad that people are still hanging on. Being sick at the holidays really throws your momentum off but I'm glad that there are people still reading, though it would be nice to hear about it from people, oh well, anyways, enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

Casey woke up and stretched. She turned to see the bed empty. She sighed as she got up. She wanted to stay in bed a little longer but knew she should really get up and get going on the quickie wedding that she and Derek were planning.

She walked out to the veranda where she found her fiancé on his cell phone.

He gave her a smirk and finished his call.

She leaned down to kiss him. "Hey lover," she smiled as she sat down between his legs.

"Hey you," he said, pulling her close to him.

They enjoyed the moment, just holding each other. Finally they got up and went for brunch then went to get all the legal papers so they could get married the next day. They were done with plenty of time to meet the family at the villa.

"Casey!" Nora exclaimed when she spotted her walking up the stairs from the gardens.

"Mom," she said when she hugged her mother in response.

Soon she and Derek were enveloped in hugs from everybody.

"Alright, why don't we get you all checked into your rooms," Derek said, making his way to the front desk with George.

Nora put an arm around her.

"Are you truly happy?" she asked her quietly.

Casey gave a bright smile. "Probably the happiest I have ever been."

Nora gave her a motherly smile. "That's all I want to hear. I told you that I was going to support you in whatever you chose to do."

"I doubt that this is what you had in mind though," Lizzie laughed from behind them.

Casey turned to look at her sister.

Nora shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I could tell that you were concerned about marrying Max and I felt that I needed to tell you in the event that you couldn't go through with it I would be there for you."

"You're here now and that's what really matters most to me," Casey said, looping arms with her mom.

Her dad came and kissed her on the forehead. "This is probably the best decision I've seen you make yet," he smiled.

"And I'm glad that we're here to see it," George said as he came back over to them.

"That's why everything was taken care of," Derek said as he rejoined the entire group. "Alright, so everyone check out their room, adjust to the heat and we'll meet up in a few hours for dinner."

Everyone nodded in agreement and dispersed.

Casey went back to the room with Derek.

He held her hand tightly.

"What's up?" he asked as he led her onto the veranda and pulled her down onto the lounge chair with him.

She sighed contently. "I'm just happy. I'm here with you. We're going to get married tomorrow and we have our family here to share in the joy of it."

He glanced at his watch. "Well, almost all of our family is here. My mom said she would be in later this evening."

Casey smiled brightly. "Oh Derek, I can't believe how much trouble you went through."

He shrugged. "It's only right that we have our family here to share this day with us. They were there for all of our relationship, good and bad. Now they can see us come together in what should be one of the best things—

"So far," she smiled as she leaned up and kissed him.

"Do you regret it?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't. That's why everything kept leading me back to you. All my memories of us haunted me and I just knew that there was no way that I could marry him. I just couldn't do it."

He leaned down and kissed her. "I can relate to that. I hated that you were going to marry him. My coach threatened to bench me."

She frowned at him. "I didn't think that—you know, I just assumed that you were a little tired, perhaps deep down I knew that it was my fault that you weren't at the top of your game."

He cocked a brow. "So, you admit that you did watch my games."

She blushed and bowed her head. "If I couldn't watch them then I watched them on tivo."

He chuckled. "Oh Case, I have corrupted you."

She laughed. "I do believe that is true. You ruined me for all others."

He smirked cockily. "Good thing I rescued you then because you ruined me for any other woman a long time ago."

He started to kiss down her neck and stopped any further words from being said. He kissed across her rib cage to her naval.

"Come," he whispered and guided her to her feet and took her to the private pool they had.

He pulled her into the water with him and slowly he slid off her clothes and tossed them to the side of the pool and she helped him out of his swim trunks and his tank.

He smiled in appreciation of her beautiful dancer's body then kissed her passionately.

She laughed and swam from his grip.

They commenced in a playful game of tag that resulted in some rather interesting foreplay and finally Derek couldn't take it any longer and had her on the steps of the pool. She came with him in the flurry of hot passion and thrilling excitement and clung to him afterwards, trying to catch her breath.

Eventually they dragged themselves from the pool and took a brief nap together before they went to meet up with the family for dinner.

Casey found herself being stretched suddenly. She smiled as she looked up at Derek's face as he put his arms back down then wrapped it around her. He kissed her nose.

"We should get up," he said holding her close.

She snuggled closely into his side. "Do we have to?"

He chuckled. "Come on, up we get," he said sitting up.

She moaned as she pouted but eventually put out her hand which he grabbed to help pull her out of bed and onto her feet.

"Come on sleepy head, a quick shower and then we'll get dressed and make our way down to meet everyone."

Once they were showered and dressed, they made their way down to the lobby of the hotel villa to meet up with their family.

Derek had his arm around her when they joined everyone.

"Hey you two," Denis said as stood beside Amy, his girlfriend of six years. She was a soap opera actress and had come on the morning of the would be wedding to find the complete chaos of the aftermath.

"Hey Dad," Casey said as she gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for helping out with you know, everything."

He gave her a smile. "Casey, all I can say is that I was surprised Derek and you managed to be apart as long as you did. Max was a great enough guy but he could never quite compare to Derek."

Casey felt her cheeks flush.

"I'm just glad that we're here for this great moment when you two get married tomorrow. I'm also glad that you're happy. I know that it had to have been a very difficult situation to walk out on a wedding and a big decision because well a decision that effects the rest of your life is always a difficult decision that you want to be sure about."

He squeezed her in a warm hug.

"So are we off?" George said as they joined the rest of the family.

Derek nodded as he came over to Casey's side and took her hand.

"Wait, wait," someone said from back by the stairs.

Derek turned to smile at his mother. "Finally made it," he grinned.

She hugged him and kissed on the cheek, doing the same for Casey.

"Well, it's a little more difficult for me to get away last minute," Abbey said as she looped arms with Marti.

"we're glad that you made it," Casey smiled. "All of you, we realize that its very last minute and it has been a rather interesting week to say the least, but I am so glad that you'll be here to see us get married."

A couple taxis showed up to take them to the restaurant. They went into the restaurant and practically took over the place with all them sitting together for dinner.

Derek and Casey sat in the middle. George and Nora sat across from them, Edwin and his girlfriend beside them, Lizzie and Jamie just off the side. Marti sat beside Peter, her serious, but don't let her hear you say it, boyfriend, with Denis and Amy just by them. Emily and Sheldon were there too, sitting by Derek's mother.

Casey looked around the table and was amazed by the effort that Derek had done to make the impulsive decision to get married a beautiful experience. They had their family and they would finally be able to right the wrong they had done to each other by separating and almost marrying the wrong man.

They enjoyed the dinner and then found the family wanting to give toasts to the occasion.

"I want to say that I am so grateful for the chance to be here to witness this momentous occasion," George said, looking down at the two them as he stood with Nora. "It was sudden but we could not be more happier for the two of you."

"yes, and I want to thank you Derek for bringing us down here so we could be apart of something we had all prayed and hoped for," Nora said.

There were cheers and Abbey and Dennis both gave toasts along the same lines.

Once they were done with it they made their way to the beach where there was a huge bonfire by an American group of friends who were enjoying a party on the beach.

"you three are going to be my bridesmaids, right?" Casey asked Emily, Lizzie, and Marti while they were sitting on a log with a drink.

"of course," Lizzie grinned. "I just knew when I was driving you to the airport that you two would get married."

Casey smiled.

"I'm just glad that you came to your senses. I knew that you wouldn't truly be happy with Max. He's a nice enough guy but he didn't stir your soul like Derek does," Marti said.

"I'm just glad that it means for the time being you'll be back in the area. I will miss having the excuse to come down to New York, but it will be great to have you that much closer," Emily grinned.

"Plus, we got ourselves pretty beach style bridesmaids dresses as soon as we got the call from Derek that we should come down to see you get married," Lizzie laughed.

Casey laughed and hugged each of them. "oh you guys are the best."

"So, are we going to find a place to get our hair and makeup done tomorrow?" Marti asked.

Casey grinned. "absolutely."

"Now, the question is, are you going to be formal and spend the last night as a single woman with your best girls or do you plan on being with your fiancé?"

Casey pouted.

Derek laughed as he joined them. "Maybe I should say that she should spend the night with me because you might just run for freedom and never get married."

Casey smiled sweetly at him. "I don't think you have to worry about that. I ran away from my last wedding because I was still in love with you. It's hard to marry someone you don't truly love. You're my soulmate. Nothing could stop me from marrying you tomorrow."

He kissed her while the girls gushed about their sappy sweetness.

"alright, you go with the girls then. I'll see you tomorrow," he said, kissing her one more time.

She kissed him and then let the girls take off with her for the night. She was getting married the next day and she had never felt more excited in her life.

* * *

So, the wedding is next. Hope you enjoyed the story and that there was enough information on Amy, I realize that I suddenly introduced her but I couldn't help it. I'm not that sure I like this chapter that much, but oh well, its done and the wedding is next. Please review and let me know what you think!!


	15. the most beautiful moment to occur

Sorry about the delay folks, was a little busy, work, being sick, it hasn't been easy. I also had a bit of a block since I don't have anything nearly as romantic as Derek and Casey and I had to find the inspiration to write it… so here it is, hope you enjoy

* * *

There was a lot of laughter in the background, causing Casey to wake up. She groaned as she rolled over and looked over to see her sisters and Emily sitting on the veranda. 

"Casey," Emily exclaimed with a bright smile.

Then she noticed another two bright and smiling faces. Vicki and Kendra were sitting beside Emily.

Casey smiled. "When did you two get here?" she asked.

Kendra shrugged. "Oh sometime after midnight I think. Sam and I were in Vancouver when Derek called. It took a little time to get everything together and we caught a flight as soon as we could but got held up in Singapore in customs. Luckily the guy thought I was really pretty for a blonde and we somehow got going."

Casey hugged her and Vicki and sat down, beaming.

"We ended up on the same flight from Singapore," Vicki smiled. "We had been in France for a brief honeymoon when my mom called to tell me that you would be getting married in Bali and I convinced Kevin that we just had to come."

"Oh, this is turning out to be the best day ever. Everyone will be here to see us get married," Casey said, looking positively radiant.

"I'm just glad to see that you really are going to marry Derek," Marti said as she sipped something that looked like guava juice. "I had almost given up on the two of you but the moment I saw you look at Derek the other day…"

Lizzie frowned then nodded. "Yeah, I saw that too. But I think I always hoped that you two would make up except Max got in the way."

Kendra frowned. "How did you end up back together with Max anyway?"

Casey recounted the story that was Max and her, bumping into each other in New York and then suddenly fell into the pattern of dating to become a serious relationship.

There was a knock at the door and Marti jumped up. "That must be mom and mom," she said as she ran across the suite for the door.

Sure enough she returned with Nora and Abbey and they were all sitting on the lounge. Emily made sure breakfast was ordered while they all chatted away.

Eventually the buffet of food was brought to their suite and they all ate. Kendra took over doing makeup and her hair. Once she was done she turned Casey to look in the mirror.

She beamed at the sight of herself and hugged Kendra. "Thanks."

Abbey came over to her then alongside her mother. "This was my grandmother's," she said holding up a jewel flower hair pin. "She wore it on her wedding day and I know that she would have loved for you to wear it today."

Casey smiled. "Oh thanks Abbey."

She nodded then hugged Casey tightly. "I'm just so glad that Derek met you—I have never seen him happier than with you. I know you two will have a great life together."

Casey wiped away the wetness from her eyes. "Thanks Abbey, I really appreciate that."

Abbey put the hair pin above the curls brought together in the back since Kendra had taken the trouble of curling it and pulling a couple strands back to meet in the middle. It suited a gentler beach style wedding.

Her mother then took a deep breath as she took Casey's hands. "I have been saving these to give you on your wedding day," she said.

The others laughed.

"Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the signs, when I woke up that day; I couldn't find them anywhere even though I was sure that I put them on the dresser the night before. Today I have them for you to wear. They have been in the family a long time. Every woman has worn them on their wedding day. I was only able to wear one on the wedding day to your father… but I wore them when I married George. Today it is your turn to wear them."

Nora opened the small box to reveal ruby earrings inlaid in filigree gold.

Casey felt the tears come. "Oh Mom, they're beautiful."

She put the earrings in and hugged her mother tightly.

"Alright, let's get dressed," Lizzie grinned. "We've got a wedding to get to."

Casey smiled as Marti brought out her wedding dress. "I had a feeling that you weren't thinking of Max when you bought this dress," she said as she hung it up on the back of the door.

Emily had a look of deep thought. "You know, I think she's right. I remember this just being the dream dress you would describe when you were younger… and I do believe you were with Derek at the time."

Casey blushed. "I have no idea what you are talking about. Now, who is going to help me get into my dress?"

It was a flurry of enthusiastic activity and liveliness as they got Casey ready for the wedding and got themselves ready to attend the wedding.

"Oh oh, we have to make sure you have all your things… you know something blue, borrowed, old, so on…" her mother said.

"Earrings are the something old, same for the hair clip," Casey smiled.

"The dress something new," Lizzie laughed.

"I figured this was pretty shotgun, not that I'm suggesting anything," Kendra laughed. She handed her a blue garter. I have been saving it for my wedding, you know since Sam and I are getting married later in the summer. This can be your something borrowed and blue."

Casey hugged Kendra. "Thanks so much! That was so sweet."

"I think that covers about everything," Emily said, as she went through the flowers that had just been delivered to the room.

"Oh, you need a penny in your shoe," Vicky beamed. She went to her purse and dug through it and pulled out a shiny Canadian penny.

Then with some work they helped Casey get the garter on and taped the penny down in her shoe.

Finally they were ready and making their way through the hotel villa to the beach behind them that had been set up for their wedding.

Abbey handed Casey a card on their way down.

Casey opened the card and smiled. It was from Derek telling her he couldn't wait to see her coming towards him and he couldn't wait to marry her. It also told her that he had a gift for her that had been from his grandmother for the right girl when the time came but she would have to wait to find out what it was.

She looked at Abbey curiously.

She shook her head. "Sorry, I can't tell you—it's supposed to be a surprise."

Casey frowned but smiled as they waited for the sign that they could start the wedding.

Finally George and her dad came to walk her down the aisle and everyone else except Emily, Marti, and Lizzie went to go and join the others on the beach.

"You ready princess?" Dennis asked her.

She positively beamed in her radiant happiness.

"I've never seen you look more beautiful," he smiled as he kissed her on the cheek.

George gave her a smile. "Casey, I can say that I know I'm slow on these things," he laughed. "But the moment I knew you had run away with Derek, it sunk it, you would really become my daughter now. I know that Max would have never made you as happy and I'm just so glad that your mother and I will get to see you truly happy because you deserve it."

She hugged him.

"Well said George," her dad chuckled as he patted him on the back.

George smiled nervously. "I never know what to say at these things but I am glad that we will both have the chance to share in this day."

"It's time to start," Emily gushed as she hurried towards Casey. She gave her her flowers and the girls made sure that everything was good.

"Okay, I'm good," she smiled serenely. "Just go already."

All the girls gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Emily was the first to walk down the steps to the beach, followed by Marti, then Lizzie.

Once Lizzie had gone, Casey took a deep breath and smiled.

"Ready?" her father asked.

She nodded her head and together the three of them started walking. Once they had descended the steps, she knew she was only steps away from the love of her life. She looked down the beach to where there was an arch set up with billowing material as it gently swayed from the ocean breeze.

There she saw Derek in the black pants and the shirt from rented tux open at the top. He had his hair gelled and she thought he looked dashing. She smiled at the sight of him. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen and she felt so elated to know that they were to be married very very shortly. It was a dream come true. She just glowed in her happiness as she walked towards him.

Derek had been getting so nervous as he stood waiting.

"D, do you need to throw up," Sam teased in a whisper from behind him.

He shook his head then felt Sam nudge him.

He knew this was it. Casey was now coming down the stairs. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for when he would see her.

He kept himself even then he saw her and the world went still.

She looked beautiful in a creamy lace dress that hugged her dancer's body in a mermaid style. She had her hair down and in curls with a white flower tucked in by her ear. He knew he would never forget this moment. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in the entire world and she was about to become his.

Finally George and Dennis had brought her to him and he was taking a hold of her hand.

He gave her a smirking smile.

She winked at him then kissed both Dennis and George on the cheek and she stood up beside Derek to be married.

Casey had all she could to hear what the man was saying. She kept smiling and held onto Derek's hands, staring at him with all the love she felt for him and she saw it in his face as well. It felt so perfect.

They exchanged vows, promising eternal love. Casey and Derek stared into each other's eyes with their own look of promise.

Finally it came to the time to exchange rings. Casey had found a jewelry store on her own and found a platinum band that had a tribal design on it.

"With this ring," she smiled, "I thee wed."

He grinned at the ring. It would match with her Bali engagement ring that she knew she would never part with for all the diamonds in the world.

Finally Derek was sliding a ring on her finger and she felt her eyes grow moist. It was a platinum band inlaid with yellow gold in a criss cross pattern with three small diamonds across the top.

"This was my grandmother's," he whispered. "She wore it for her 60 year marriage with my grandfather and she hoped that I would find someone to share a lifetime with," he told her quietly.

She smiled with a happy tear escaping down her cheek.

"With this ring, I thee wed," he said, then lifted her hand and kissed the finger he had slid the ring onto.

"Then by the power vested in me on this beautiful day in Bali, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the…

There were claps and cheers, even laughter as Derek went ahead before he finished the words and grabbed Casey and clutched her to him, bowing her slightly to kiss her.

They all cheered as they kissed and were now finally together, married.

Finally they came up for air and held their hands up and smiled brightly at everyone.

Derek took her hand and they started up the aisle, kissing her every few steps, smiling and waving at everyone.

They were at the top of the stairs, in the private lobby that they had been waiting in before.

She smiled at him.

He smirked then lifted her off her feet. "Well, Mrs. Venturi, I do believe you're stuck with me forever and a day now."

She gave him the most radiant and love soaked smile she possessed. "and I couldn't be happier," she said and kissed him passionately.

* * *

Alright… so, I'm deciding whether I should just end it here… or do a little more, you know maybe an epilogue… let me know what you think. I'm not sure that I even like this chapter, so please let me know what you think… I am very tempted to scrap it and write it again… let me know what you think… 


	16. a homecoming game

I'm glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter. My goal is to reach a 100 reviews before this story is through, which will be very soon. Hope you enjoy.

Derek sat with Casey on the plane. They were finally returning to Toronto after a week of heaven. She had her head resting on his shoulder while she slept. They were sitting in first class seats, next to no one in this section—a few businessmen who were busy hammering away on their laptops.

They had just flown over the Atlantic and were within moments of landing. Derek had filled out the customs card for both Casey and him.

Finally he nudged her awake.

"Casey," he whispered.

She moaned.

"Sweetie, you have to wake up now," he said softly, stroking her hand.

She groaned. "I don't want to."

He chuckled. "I already filled out the customs card. Hopefully they will have more than two customs guards on," he said as he glanced at his watch. "Well, it is a prime time for international arrivals, so I imagine all the wickets will be open," he said, hopeful.

"I guess we're going to your apartment?" she asked as she stretched and then rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

He nodded. "For now, eventually we'll get ourselves a new place. This summer after the playoffs we can go house hunting."

She smiled brightly. "That sounds fun!"

He rolled his eyes. "But in the meantime, I guess this means you'll be decorating to make the place more wife friendly?"

She laughed. "Oh come on, like you aren't glad that you'll have me around all the time."

He frowned. "Twenty-four seven… hmm… maybe I should have thought a little more before we got hitched."

She smacked him on the arm. "Der-ek!"

He laughed as he pulled her close and kissed her. "You can go nuts! It's your place now too and I want my wife to be happy."

She grinned. "Excellent!"

Eventually they landed and they got their carry-on bags and made their way down to the baggage carousel. While they were waiting Derek had a few young boys come up to him with their parents to get an autograph.

"What's your name?" he asked the five year old.

"Josh," he smiled.

"Well here you go Josh," he said, handing him back his autograph. "Did you want a picture too?" he asked him. "You and your brother?"

They both beamed up at him.

The mom took the picture and smiled. "Thanks so much, you're their idol."

He gave her a smile. "It was no problem."

Casey smiled at him when he joined her with a baggage cart.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. You're just so sweet."

He rolled his eyes then smirked as he pulled her close and kissed her.

She nipped his ear. "When will we be home?" she whispered.

He arched a brow then grinned. "As soon as we can, trust me."

She laughed.

Their bags came eventually and then they made their way outside, only stopped a few more times for an autograph. Once they were outside Derek guided them to the lines for cabs and limos. He directed her to the limo line that had no one and soon they were in a stretch limo making their way into the city to their apartment.

Casey gave him a suggestive smile and Derek put up the separating glass and they made out like mad in the back seat. Derek was tempted to have her right there in the limo but didn't want to scandalize the driver.

She laughed. "Oh I know more than this goes on in these places," she smiled but continued the make-out grope fest.

Finally they arrived at the apartment building and the driver brought their bags into the lobby.

Derek scooped her up in his arms, bridal style.

"Derek! You don't have to carry me all the way!"

He laughed but did it anyway.

He stopped at the desk with the guard. "Phillip, this is my wife Casey."

"Hi," Casey smiled.

Phillip smiled in return.

"So, you don't have to worry about denying her access to my-our apartment," he said, then strode for the elevator.

The apartment was on the twelfth floor, the penthouse suite. The elevator took them right to the suite with a special fob key to grant him access. He walked across the threshold, holding a laughing Casey.

"Welcome home," he grinned then kissed her.

She felt like she was melting. She wrapped her hands in his hair and pushed herself as close as she physically could.

"Damn it woman, how much control do you think I have?" he groaned as he ran his hands all over her body.

She laughed suggestively. "Probably not much more."

He groaned as he picked her up and took her to the bedroom. "You can get the tour later," he said and soon he was busy worshipping his wife's body and christening the apartment.

The next morning he kissed her on the forehead, leaving her to sleep while he made his way to practice with the team.

"Venturi!" coach yelled as they were getting off the ice.

He skated back to his coach who had been picking up the pylons.

"I take it you're your time off helped you get back your groove," he said, arching a brow.

Derek frowned.

"I expect to see you on top of your game tomorrow," the coach said.

Derek grinned. "I will do my best."

The coach looked at him carefully. "Is this about a woman?"

Derek looked at him, a frown on his face.

"Alright, I'll let it be. I'm just glad to have you back and hopefully you'll keep it up. I need you focused. Playoffs are coming. The team needs you. We all need you."

Derek patted the older man on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I wont let you down."

The coach smiled. "Good, see you tomorrow."

Derek nodded then skated back to the box and made his way to the locker room.

"So how was the wedding?" one of the guys asked.

Derek frowned when he turned to look at the rookie offense.

"Didn't you go home for some wedding of some kind?" he asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

The goalie chuckled. "It looks like you got a bit of a tan there Venturi."

Derek grinned. "Well, what do you know about that."

The goalie just grinned. He was good friends with Derek and knew where Derek had been. He was just goading him.

Derek threw a pad at him. "Sure whatever," he laughed.

He went home to find the apartment dark.

"Casey?" he called out.

"I'm in the dining room," she called out through the darkness.

He grinned. He was definitely enjoying being married. He went to the dining room to see Casey sitting in a black satin nightie, the table set with candles and some plates of food.

He dropped his bag and stared.

She stood up and walked over to him. She gave him a seductive smile.

"God damn woman!" he said then pulled her to him.

"I just wanted to make sure that you came home to a nice cooked meal," she smiled in between kisses.

"Forget dinner," he growled then scooped her into his arms.

They made their way to the bed and made love. Afterwards she lay scrawling her fingers over his chest.

"You coming to the game tomorrow night?" he asked.

She nodded. "Of course I will."

"Excellent."

"I'll even wear a jersey… maybe that guy's number… you know, some hockey god or something or other," she smiled mischievously.

He pulled her to him, growling. "If it's not my number, you might get lynched."

She laughed. "I'll think about it."

He chuckled. "Wow, the confidence my wife is instilling in me, it's fabulous."

She laughed.

The next day she was at the game watching one of his best games of the season. Everyone was cheering for the return of the hockey god, who was finally out of his slump. The anticipation and excitement for the playoffs was in the air as Derek stole the show and brought the team to victory and they shut out the New Jersey devils, three nothing.

Casey was waiting around while the players were doing interviews after they had gone off the ice and were changed.

"Derek," the guy from TSN said, holding the mike in front of his face. "You played a great game tonight."

Casey smiled.

"Probably the best game you've played all season. Not that you don't play good…" the guy said at Derek's amused expression.

"Well, I know that last year I went through a rough patch, picked up a lot of penalties, broke my nose," he laughed. "I came back this year with a better head on my shoulders. But I will say I have a better focus now," he grinned.

"Was the time off with your injury good for you?" the reporter asked with a slight frown.

Derek looked over to Casey and grinned.

"Yeah, I took a little r and r, got some new focus. I want to make all my dreams come true this year. I always knew I wanted to play hockey, knew it since I was a little kid. And I always knew that I wanted to have the chance to play in the finals for the Stanley Cup and even the chance for Olympic gold. I will work on that because I know I can make all my wishes come true."

The reporter arched a brow at Derek. "Really, and what has brought about this confidence?"

He grinned. "Well, I had the second chance at something I thought was gone from me a long time ago and now I have a renewed sense of hope."

"Really, so we can expect the hockey god's return?"

Derek shrugged. "I think I just want to make sure I can inspire the rest of the team to play their hearts out in the playoffs so we stand a chance at the Stanley Cup this year."

The guy kept a questioning expression on his face.

"It's time to wrap it up," the coach yelled from down the hall where he had finished from his press conference.

Derek grinned at the reporter. "Well, I would love to stay and chat more," he laughed, "but you know."

The reporter was frowning.

"I will say that I'm looking forward to being a strong leader for the team and hope that we can make a play at it."

"Well, scoring one of the goals tonight and assisting with the other two, we can hope that will be continued so that the team will make it to the playoffs."

"That's the intention," he grinned.

"So, the injured ribs won't be holding you back?" the reporter asked.

Derek grinned even broader. "No, definitely not. They're quite healed now. I took some time off, got some sun, enjoyed the time with my wife."

"Your wife?" the man laughed. "Well that's certainly a new development."

Derek grinned. "Yes, it is a new development—sort of. She's been part of my life a long time… you know; she'd probably call it a fairy tale type romance. Anyways we got married this past week. And since we're still kind of on our honeymoon, I think I'm going to call it a night and head home with the wife."

The reporter turned and gaped as Derek threw his arm around Casey in her Venturi jersey and started down the long hallway out of the building.

She shook her head, laughing.

"What?" he said arching his brow.

"Nothing," she said, laughing.

He pulled her close and gave her a kiss. "Well, thanks for being a lucky charm tonight."

She shook her head. "You don't me to be your lucky charm," she smiled, snuggling closer to him and kissing him on the lips.

Once they got outside there were a few people waiting to catch sight of the players to get autographs. Derek grinned and signed the autographs then finally he slipped off to be with Casey and they headed to his car.

"So, playoffs are coming up soon are they?" she smiled as he opened the car door for her.

He nodded.

"I'll be there, watching as many games as I can," she said, taking his hand as he started the car.

He lifted her hand and kissed it.

"Thanks," he said, then started the car.

"Well, I have to say thank you for my fairy tale," she grinned.

He grinned. "Well, you know, it's hard not to call our forever and a day vows a fairy tale."

She smiled as they drove home. She had a lot to look forward to. She had gotten in touch with the firm her father suggested and the man seemed eager to have her come in and meet with him. She would have a job soon and she would have a nice little life to set up in Toronto, she smiled, with her husband.

Alright, so this seemed cheesy, I dunno, I just wanted to add a little something extra before I do the epilogue, lol… and I bet there was a lot of you who thought that this was the epilogue, gotcha… I'm on it… but please let me know what you think, was it too cheesy?? Or what?


	17. epilogue: 8 years later

Well this is it, the story will now be finished. Thanks for all reviews and the time to enjoy the story. I have to finish my other story and then I will start another Dasey or something, whatever strikes my fancy for my next story. Enjoy!!

* * *

**Eight Years Later:**

Casey heard the alarm clock blaring beside her head and she groaned.

She had barely opened her eyes when she heard her four year old twin daughters making a run into her room.

"What are you two doing up so early?" she asked as Kadence and Melanie climbed into the bed and bounced happily around her.

"We're just excited is all," Melanie beamed.

"Yeah," Kadence chimed in.

Casey smiled as she rolled her eyes. She knew the reason for their excitement. Derek was finally coming home today after being on the road for the past couple weeks. The team had been busy playing several away games in the final quarter before the playoffs hit them.

She was also excited about seeing her husband that night. Phone calls were not enough to satisfy her hunger for her husband. Plus she had some exciting news for him.

She heard a shuffling in the hallway.

"Hey Michael," she said when he reached the doorway, the Border Collie Scooter right at his heels.

Her six year old son was rubbing his eyes.

"Aren't you excited Mikey," Melanie said, finally bouncing down on her bum to sit.

"Yeah, daddy is coming home today," Kadence beamed.

"But it's not till later sweetums," Casey said as she got up, stretching. "He has a game this evening then he can come home."

Kadence pouted.

"But on the plus side," she said as she took both her daughter's hands. "We get to see Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Jamie," she said as they made their way downstairs to the kitchen.

Michael perked up. Casey knew that her son would keep himself busy with his cousin Peter and they would wreak some major havoc.

"Can we make cupcakes?" Melanie asked. "You know, for daddy?"

Casey smiled. "Sure sugar pie."

She made them breakfast and let them watch cartoons after they all got dressed. She let the dog out into the yard and read the paper.

Melanie and Kadence finally bombarded into the kitchen eager to make some sunflower cupcakes. She got the stuff out to make the chocolate cupcakes and got the yellow icing and the brown sprinkles ready for them.

Mike came in to help a little so he could have some of the batter then went back to watching his superhero cartoons.

Finally they had the cupcakes ready and Casey glanced at her watch. She had to get the kids ready to go to her sister's place.

She made it to her room when she felt queasy and she rushed to the bathroom. She was wiping her face and gurgling some mouth wash when Kadence called out for help with her shoes.

Casey smiled, quickly changed into her jeans and a black v-neck sweater. She turned to the side and frowned. She could see the impact already. She just hoped that she would be able to share the news with her husband before he was able to guess at what it was.

Casey made her way downstairs. She tied Kadence's shoes, put in the barrettes that Melanie wanted in her hair, and grabbed Mike's toque from the closet.

She finally had them all ready and herded them to her GMC Jimmy out front. She let Scooter jump in and sit by Mike's feet.

They arrived at Lizzie's and her kids took off like a bang for their cousins. Melanie and Kadence busied themselves playing Barbie's with Jenny, Lizzie's five year old daughter.

Peter had gotten a new game and just had to show Mike. Soon the boys were in Peter's room playing some Wii game that had them laughing and cheering.

"That kid," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "We might just have to take that game system out of his room."

Casey laughed.

"So how are you feeling?" Lizzie asked her with the concerned motherly look that she seemed to have perfected since she had become a mother.

Casey smiled. "I'm just fine."

Lizzie arched a brow. "Oh really?"

Casey shrugged. "I'm fine. I don't know why everyone keeps asking me that."

Lizzie smiled. "Well are you excited to have your husband come home?"

Casey brightened. "You have no idea."

Lizzie shook her head. "Knowing you, I can imagine which is gross by the way."

Casey laughed.

They spent the rest of the day visiting, joined by George and Nora. They decided to order pizza and watch the game when the day had disappeared and it was after five.

Jamie ordered a vegetarian and meat lover's pizza, some wings, and cinnastix with pop. The kids were excited about the food and were bouncing by the door when the delivery guy arrived.

"Come on Uncle Jamie, the game's starting," Michael said excitedly.

Casey smiled at her parents. Michael was so much like his father. He was a true hockey fan and absolutely worshipped him and hoped to be a big hockey player when he grew up.

Casey stuck to the vegan pizza and was feeling a little queasy at the cinnamon smell. Kadence picked up a piece and tried to offer it to her and Casey shook her head then bolted to the bathroom where she emptied her stomach.

Nora came to the bathroom and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Are you feeling alright?"

Casey shrugged. "Just fine," she said, gently splashing her face with the cold water.

Nora nodded and went back to the living room with Casey.

"Look its Daddy!" Melanie squealed during the break just before the third period.

Casey nodded and stroked her daughter's hair.

They were asking Derek about the first portion of the game and how he was after the last game when he got injured in a tripping incident. Then he was drilled about whether he was glad to be home.

"Of course," he smirked. "I like being back on our own ice and having all of our fans cheer us on."

"People believe that you are trying to lead the team to the Stanley Cup again, are you?"

"Well, we always are trying for that, every team in fact. Just with the great team we have been putting together in the last couple years we're hoping to have a second go of it," he smiled.

"How does Derek feel about joining team Canada for the Olympics?" Jamie asked Casey.

Casey smiled. "Oh he's ecstatic. It will also be a great opportunity. It's in Switzerland, so we're going to take the kids. It will be a great opportunity for them too," she said.

"Hopefully you're feeling up to it then," Nora said pointedly.

"Let us know if you want a little extra help with the kids," George smiled.

Casey laughed. She wouldn't doubt that her parents would love the opportunity to come with them to Switzerland. Depending on how things went, she might ask them to come with them.

Finally the game was over and Casey got the kids and the dog into her truck and took them all home. The girls were beyond tired although they claimed that they wanted to stay up to wait for their father. She told them to go to bed and he would come in and check on them once he got home. She promised Michael that Scooter could stay in his room and that he could read a book.

She was tired and made her way to the master bedroom. She changed into a nightie and sat in bed reading a book but somehow found herself more tired than she realized and was dozing off.

Derek came home to a quiet house. Scooter came and greeted him at the door once he got in. He gave the dog a good pet, scratching her on the belly, and then moved on to check on his family.

He dumped his bag in the laundry room and went to the kitchen. He saw the sunflower cupcakes and smiled. He always called the girls his sunflowers. He grabbed a cupcake and devoured it.

He then made his way upstairs and came to the twins' room. He pushed the door open and saw them asleep. He went over to each bed and kissed them on the forehead.

Melanie stirred and then looked up at him with a sleepy smile.

"Daddy!" she said.

"Hey sunflower," he said pushing her hair from her face.

"I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too. Did you help the others take care of mommy?"

She nodded solemnly. "Of course daddy."

Derek grinned. He knew that no matter how much he was a reigning hockey god and all the awards and medals he could get, nothing was as great as the feeling he got when he saw the love and pride in his kids. the day that Michael was born and then the twins was some of the best days of his life—except of course for the day that he married their mother.

"Get some sleep sunflower, I'll see you in the morning and we'll have our family day."

Melanie grinned then snuggled down again in her bed.

He kissed her atop of her head, and kissed Kadence again then shut their door and made his way to Michael's room.

Michael smiled when he saw him in the doorway.

"Hey dad."

"Hey buddy," he said, coming to sit down on his son's bed.

"You played a great game tonight," he said.

Derek ruffled his hair. "You know I hate to disappoint you," he grinned.

Mike laughed.

"How is your wrist?" he asked his son.

Mike shrugged. "It's better now."

Michael had broken his wrist seven weeks ago when he had fallen out of the tree house at Edwin's and the cast had just come off the weekend before. Derek could tell that he was anxious to play hockey again. Derek smiled—like father, like son.

"Well, try and get some sleep, tomorrow is family day," he smiled, ruffling Mike's hair again.

"Okay dad," he said putting his book on the nightstand.

Scooter came into the room and jumped onto the foot of his bed.

"Night Michael," he said as he turned the light off.

Derek smiled and made his way to the bedroom, now very anxious to see his wife. The light was on but she was sleeping.

He closed the door and went over to the bed, and laid down resting his head on his arm.

She looked beautiful. Her hair seemed to have grown a little more since he was gone, now past her shoulder blades. She looked like a little tired, but she was still his goddess.

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips, running a hand across her back.

Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a heartwarming smile.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey back," she smiled.

She sat up and leaned over to kiss him thoroughly.

He grinned as he pulled her over top of his body and started to ravish her.

"God I missed you," he groaned as she was kissing his neck.

She moaned her agreement as he played with the hem of her short nightie. He pulled it off and quickly lost all of his clothes.

He just stared at his wife—her naked body the best thing he'd seen in a few weeks.

She seemed to look a little worried.

He lifted her chin. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She smiled in return. "Oh nothing."

She then slipped her hand down and started distracting him as she fondled him.

Finally he was unable to bear it much longer and just wanted to have her. He knew he had all night to make love to his wife and he planned on doing it until they collapsed from exhaustion.

He laid her on her back and entered her with ease, making her moan in pleasure as she took him all in.

Together they renewed their passion for each other after the long absence and came together too soon and lay spent in each other's arms.

He let out a deep breath and dropped down onto the bed, on his back and pulled her close so she was half on his chest.

She gazed up at him.

"What?"

"I missed you so much," she said, kissing him again on his lips. "The phone calls were just not enough."

He grinned. "They helped though," he said suggestively.

She laughed then she took his hands and ran them over her stomach.

He grinned. "Ready for more already? Wow, you must have really missed me."

She laughed but shook her head. "No, I've just been waiting to share a surprise with you."

He arched a brow. "Really, what kind of surprise? Another baby?"

Her face fell. "I knew it! I'm getting fat," she said, a catch in her voice.

Derek felt his jaw drop open. He had been joking but then suddenly the news hit him that she was pregnant again.

She had sat up and looked as though she was getting ready to start crying—a clear sign that she was already well into the pregnancy hormones.

He came over behind her, rubbing her back.

"Are you really?" he asked with incredulity.

She nodded, wiping her eyes. "I was hoping that I could surprise you—but it's already evident that I'm pregnant."

"Oh love, come here," he said turning her and pulling her close. "I didn't know, I just made a random comment and it was correct."

She looked up at him, her eyes hopeful.

He kissed her. "Trust me, I think this is great!" he said, kissing her neck, and then looking at her with amazement.

"Really?"

He nodded. "You will always amaze me and I will love you forever and a day. I will also love this baby as much as I already love our children. You all are my family and no matter how many awards, medals, and honors they give me for playing, you keep amazing me everyday as do the kids. My life is complete with my family."

She smiled up at him and threw her arms around him.

He kissed her, running his hands over her body. "I guess we will probably have to bring the parents with us when we go to Switzerland for the Olympics," he said as he kissed his way down her body.

She moaned in pleasure. "I suppose so—not that they would complain. They would love the chance to go."

Derek grinned.

"Alright," she said then succumbed to his worship of her body. Afterwards she lay spent in his arms, dozing off.

"Love you," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

"l-love… you," she said, then she was asleep.

Derek smiled as he managed to pull the blankets over them. He had the life and nothing was better.

**Fini**

* * *

Thanks everyone for reading, I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope that you enjoyed the prologue. I will think of something new to write… and it will probably be soon. Please review and let me know of how I ended it. Hopefully it wasn't too cheesy. It was all Derek and Casey. They guided me through this chapter. But please review... i want to make it over 100!!! and there like cyber chocolate to me, to quote another writer :D 


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